With rising COVID-19 cases all across India, the central government is considering including all persons aged above 45 years in its immunization drive.
The deliberation is also because several states have been urging the union health ministry to revise its vaccination strategy for wider coverage.
“Inclusion of all persons above the age of 45 for COVID-19 vaccination is under consideration. Gradually the government anyway has to inoculate all groups in stages. But currently, the number of covid-19 infections is rising and there is a need to protect the maximum number of people from the disease by vaccinating them. We are working on the final details of the rollout before taking a decision,” said Samiran Panda, head, epidemiology, and communicable diseases, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
Panda, also a member of the government’s National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for Covid-19 (NEGVAC), had earlier said the government would tailor the covid-19 vaccination strategy according to emerging evidence from science and field experience.
India is also reporting wastage of covid-19 vaccines, which may prove a trigger for the government to include more age groups in its programme.
While India has already provided 75.4 million doses of covid-19 vaccines to states and union territories so far, the country has also reported 6.5% vaccine wastage.
Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, and Jammu & Kashmir have reported a wastage of vaccines which is more than that of the national average.
Surjitt Sahani
