Amid the spurt in number of covid infections, the Union Government has urged State governments to accelerate Covid-19 vaccination drive. The Prime Minister has already announced ‘Tika Utsav’ or ‘Vaccine Festival’ to encourage people to take the vaccination.
Different states have already geared up efforts to increase inoculation amid a worrying surge in the cases. More than 100 million people have been vaccinated so far. In an attempt to inoculate a maximum number of eligible people against the coronavirus, many private companies have now approached the Union Health Ministry for a doorstep vaccination drive and It is expected that a decision in this regard will be taken in the next few days.
The government as an emergency preventive measure plans to vaccinate a large population of the country in the next three months. For this, plans are being rolled out to vaccinate people below 45 years of age. According to Health Ministry officials, as soon as permission is given, people below 45 years of age will be vaccinated in a door-to-door vaccination drive.
According to sources, in the under consideration proposals, different pharma companies have sought approval for vaccinating people at their homes. These companies have sought permission to charge between Rs 25 and Rs 37 per person for vaccination. Sources said no company has got permission as yet.
Sources further said that the health ministry plans to fully vaccinate the adult population in the next few months and working on plans to make it a reality. If some cited reports are to be believed than the Ministry may approve some more Covid vaccines in the coming months. Among these vaccines Sputnik manufactured in Russia is front runner.
India’s COVID-19 inoculation drive started on January 16 this year, is the second-largest such drive in the world and It sees an average vaccination rate of 1.26 million doses per day.
Report- Vikas Chandra Agrawal