Health ministry: Everyone above 45 eligible for vaccination from April 1

Amid a spurt in COVID-19 cases across the country, the Union health ministry announced on Tuesday that all people above 45 years of age would be eligible for vaccination from April 1.

Health secretary Rajesh Bhushan said people can make advance appointments through online or get on-site registration by visiting their nearest vaccination centre.

Bhushan said those who want to go for on-site registration should produce an identity document. “Usually people produce Aadhaar Card and voter ID. But you can also produce a bank passbook, passport, ration card,” he said.

The coronavirus situation is “turning from bad to worse” and is a huge cause of worry especially for some states, Bhushan said while stressing that the whole country is at risk and nobody should be complacent.

The states and Union Territories that are reporting a surge in cases need to exponentially increase the number of COVID-19 tests. The proportion of RT-PCR tests need to be increased too, he said.

A total of 6,11,13,354 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered till Tuesday 10 am. As many as 81,74,916 healthcare workers got the first dose of vaccine and 51,88,747 the second dose. As many as 89,44,742 frontline workers got the first dose and 37,11,221 the second dose.

At 48.39 per cent, Telangana tops the list of states with the highest COVID-19 vaccine doses given in private facilities. Delhi came second with 43.11 per cent vaccinations in private facilities, he said.

To a question on door-to-door vaccination in Maharashtra, Bhushan said till date, the Centre has not received any particular request from the state government about such an exercise.