India Covid-19 vaccination for 45+: Third phase launched as cases rise
India has launched the third phase of its coronavirus vaccination drive with everyone above the age of 45 now eligible for the jab.
More than 65 million doses have been given so far, mostly to frontline workers and people above the age of 60.
The world’s biggest inoculation drive aims to cover 250 million people by July, but experts say the pace needs to pick up further to meet the target.
The third phase opens amid a sharp uptick in Covid-19 cases.
India’s Covid caseload had dropped sharply by the time it began vaccinating people early this year. It was adding under 15,000 infections daily. But cases began to spike again in March, largely driven by poor test-and-trace and lax safety protocols.
On Wednesday, the country reported 72,019 new cases and 457 deaths – the sharpest daily rise since December last year.
Since the pandemic began, India has confirmed more than 11.7 million cases and over 160,000 deaths. It’s the third-highest number of Covid-19 infections in the world after the United States.
How is the rollout going?
India launched its vaccination drive on 16 January, but it was limited to healthcare workers and frontline staff – a sanitation worker became the first Indian to receive the vaccine.
From 1 March, the eligibility criteria was expanded to include people over 60 and those who are between 45 and 59 but have other illnesses.
The country’s drugs regulator has given the green light to two vaccines – one developed by AstraZeneca with Oxford University (Covishield) and one by Indian firm Bharat Biotech (Covaxin). Several others candidates are at different stages of trials.
India also wants to scale up the drive quickly to stem the recent spike in cases. So it recently placed a temporary hold on all exports of the Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, which is being made by India’s largest vaccine manufacturer, the Serum Institute of India (SII).
Foreign ministry sources told the BBC that a spike in cases meant that demand in the country for the vaccine was likely to pick up in the coming weeks, and so more doses were needed for India’s own rollout.
Some 190 countries under the World Health Organisation (WHO)-led Covax scheme will be affected. India has exported more than 60 million vaccine doses to 76 countries so far, with a majority of these being the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab.
Agencies