The Union Health Ministry on Sunday, May 2, announced that the people who have taken the first dose of coronavirus (COVID-19) on or before April 30, 2021, will be given second dose of the vaccine for free.
The decision was taken by the ministry which further directed to provide free vaccine to healthcare workers, front line workers and citizens above the age of 45.
On the other hand, the central government also asked the state governments to begin the third phase of vaccination. Several states followed the instructions and began the same on May 1, 2021, however some could not start the same due to the unavailability of vaccines. As directed, this phase will include vaccination of citizens between the age of 18 to 22. Moreover, starting this phase, the governments have been asked to purchase the vaccines directly from the manufacturers, and the price of the vaccines, both covishield and covaxin has been increased.
Keeping the concerns in mind, states like West Bengal, Karnataka, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh have postponed the vaccination campaign citing lack of vaccines. Furthermore, the states also asked the central government to help reduce the prices, following which, both Serum Institute of India (SII) and Bharat Biotech reduced the price of the vaccines for state governments.
Earlier, states like Bihar, Punjab and Maharashtra had announced that the vaccination drive would be postponed, but some places in Maharashtra conducted the drive for a few hours, based on the availability.
Currently, citizens who wish to get vaccinated have been asked to register on the CoWin app/website, and the process began at 4 pm on April 28, 2021. Reports state that as of Friday morning, over 2.45 crore people had registered themselves, however, several states did not offer the slots for vaccination due to the unavailability.
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