COVID-19 vaccine for people above 45 from April 1, announces Centre

Union Minister Prakash Javadekar also approved the decision of increasing time interval between two doses of Covishield.

Representational Image (IANS)

New Delhi: The Centre on Tuesday (March 23, 2021) announced that now the people above 45 years of age can take the COVID-19 vaccine from April 1. 

"It has been decided that from April 1, the COVID-19 vaccine will open for everybody above 45 years of age. We request that all eligible should immediately register and get vaccinated," said Union Minister Prakash Javadekar.

Javadekar also approved the decision of increasing the time interval between two doses of Covishield.

"As per the advice by scientists and world scientist bodies, the second dose can be administered between 4th and 8th week, particularly for Covishield. We appeal that all above 45 should take the vaccine as early as possible that will provide them shield against COVID-19," stated Javadekar.

The government also urged people to maintain social distancing and wear masks besides following COVID-19 safety protocols.

Second dose of #Covishield vaccine can be administered at 4-8 weeks.

People above 45 years of age should take vaccine as early as possible - Union Minister @PrakashJavdekar #LargesVaccineDrive #CabinetDecisions pic.twitter.com/3jMGGHckjB — PIB India (@PIB_India) March 23, 2021

Briefing media on the #CabinetDecisions taken by the Union Govt. today. #CabinetBriefing https://t.co/EgDEzXNFX8 — Prakash Javadekar (@PrakashJavdekar) March 23, 2021

The Centre took the decision during a cabinet meeting.

So far, over 4.8 crore vaccine doses have been administered through 7,84,612 sessions, as per the provisional report till 7 am on Tuesday. India also reportedly recorded the highest single-day vaccination on Monday as more than 32.53 lakh doses were given.

The announcement comes on a day when the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry informed that India recorded 40,715 new coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours. With this, India's total COVID-19 caseload has increased to 1,16,86,796. According to the official data, six states namely Maharashtra, Punjab, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu together account for 80.90 per cent of the new cases.

Maharashtra continued to report the highest daily new cases at 24,645 (60.53 per cent). It is followed by Punjab with 2,299 while Gujarat reported 1,640 new cases.

#CoronaVirusUpdates:

State-wise details of Total Confirmed #COVID19 cases (till 23 March, 2021, 8 AM)

➡️States with 1-30000 confirmed cases
➡️States with 30001-280000 confirmed cases
➡️States with 280000+ confirmed cases
➡️Total no. of confirmed cases so far#StaySafe pic.twitter.com/WnBQmrcEwr — #IndiaFightsCorona (@COVIDNewsByMIB) March 23, 2021

India has also recorded more than 1.11 crore recoveries.