The third phase of COVID-19 vaccination, which covered everyone above the age of 45 years, was kicked off on Thursday with the Centre deciding to conduct the drive on all days of April, including gazetted holidays, and at all public and private centres.
The Union government wrote to all the states and union territories and asked them to make necessary arrangements for this, the Health Ministry said.
Aimed at expanding the vaccination drive exponentially in India, this step was taken after detailed deliberations with the states and UTs on March 31, the ministry said.
“This decision is in line with the graded and pro-active approach employed by the government of India along with the states and UTs for COVID-19 vaccination,” it added.
The vaccination exercise will continue to be regularly reviewed and monitored at the highest level, it mentioned.
More than 6.5 crore vaccine doses have been administered across the country so far to frontline workers, healthcare workers, those above 60 and people aged above 45 with specified co-co-morbid conditions.
On Thursday, India reported this year’s highest single-day rise of 72,330 new infections in a span of 24 hours, taking the nationwide tally of cases to 1,22,21,665.
Surjitt Sahani
