With several states seeing a sharp surge in COVID-19 cases, the Union Cabinet announced that every person above 45 years is eligible for COVID-19 vaccination starting April 1. Moreover, no comorbidity certificate for people aged 45-59 years will be required for vaccination registration from April 1. The Centre also announced that it has updated the Co-WIN platform which is used for vaccination registration and communicated to the state chiefs that vaccine beneficiaries will now have the choice to choose the date of second dose within the 4–8-week interval.

Also read: COVID-19 Vaccination: Centre increases interval between two Covishield doses to up to 8 weeks

Taking to Twitter, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar wrote, “Based on the advice of task force on #COVID, the Union Cabinet took the decision that henceforth the second dose of #Covishield will be administered between 4-8 weeks now for greater effectiveness.”

Meanwhile Indian Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan sent a letter to administrators of all states and Union Territories to undertake all the measures to expand the inoculation drive to include people aged above 45 and above. Bhushan in his letter also urged the administrators to take be mindful of optimal utilization of the COVID-19 vaccines and avoid vaccine wastage.

According to sources cited by news platform Indian Express, the government will be aiming at subgroups of people aged above 45- like teachers, personnel in the government sector- etc to curb further super-spreading events that has initiated the second wave of the pandemic.

The source was quoted by The Indian Express saying, “The good part about this is that a significant section of the population in this age group is, in a sense, a captive target. So, if we vaccinate all teachers 45 and above, or all corporate sector employees, and all government employees, then the super-spreaders are curbed to that extent,” the source added.

The Indian Express source also added, “We don’t have any estimation (of the number of beneficiaries between 45-60). Once you have this kind of conjecture, we will have artificial numbers floating around. Our aim is that everyone above 45 years should be vaccinated.”

The government’s initiative to vaccinate people aged 45-years or above makes a lot of sense as it will cover much of the high-risk population that has so far remained unvaccinated and vulnerable to the virus.

Moreover, the decision to inoculate such a large subgroup of individuals also shows how the government is positive in the vaccine’s efficacy and the logistical system that’s at place. Union Cabinet Minister Prakash Javadekar in the press briefing also said how the nation has enough vaccine to now phase into the third phase of the drive and thus, the new and the most intense chapter of the vaccination drive will come about from April 1.

Meanwhile, March 23 marked another day as the sharpest COVID-19 spike the nation witnessed in over 130 days. A total of 47,262 people tested positive on Tuesday, taking the total number to 1,17,34,058.

India’s tally crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30-lakh mark on August 23, 2020, 40-lakh mark on October 5, 2020, 50-lakh mark on September 16. From September till December, the country saw some respite from steep spikes as it added a few more days between the next 10-lakh case mark. The nation crossed the 60-lakh mark on September 28, 70-lakh mark on October 11, 80-lakh on October 29, 90-lakh on November 20 and 1-crore on December 19.

Talking about the states that are accounting to the greatest number of cases, it’s Maharashtra, Punjab, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh that are accounting for 81% of all the cases. Among these states, Maharashtra is still the biggest contributor as it recorded another 28,699 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday.