COVID-19 Vaccine To Be Allowed For All Above 18 Years Of Age Starting May 1, States Can Procure Directly

Vaccinations will be opened to all above 18 from May 1, the government announced on April 19. This comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a series of meetings over India's response to record daily surges in Covid-19 cases. All adults can get Covid-19 shots & states can buy doses directly from vaccine-makers in the "liberalised and accelerated Phase 3 strategy of COVID-19 vaccination", the government said. The decision comes on a day the country reported 2.73 lakh new daily cases in the highest spike since the pandemic broke out a year ago. India began inoculating people in January using two Covid-19 vaccines - Serum Institute of India's Covishield developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca & Bharat Biotech's made-in-India Covaxin. So far, the government had allowed vaccinations only for health workers, frontline workers & those above 45 in a centrally-controlled process. In his meetings on April 19, PM Modi stressed that vaccination was "the biggest weapon" in the fight against the coronavirus. Watch the video to know more.