India begins vaccination for 18 above, 6 states join drive

TIL Desk/National/New Delhi/ Amid exponential rise in Covid-19 cases, India on Saturday started the third phase of vaccination drive covering those above the age of 18 years.

However, the exercise began mainly in six states– Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Odisha. All other states and Union Territories (UTs) have either deferred vaccination for the age group of 18-44 by a few days due to shortage of vaccine. Even in these six states, the drive is “token”, limited to just a few districts.

The Centre has dubbed the drive as the Liberalised and Accelerated Phase-3 strategy of Covid-19 vaccination for which registration for the new eligible population groups commenced on April 28. Potential beneficiaries can either register directly on CoWIN portal (cowin.gov.in) or through the Aarogya Setu app.

The exercise began at a time when many states are reporting shortage of vaccines on contrary to the Centre’s report available till 8 a.m. on Saturday which has claimed that more than 79 lakh Covid vaccine doses (79,13,518) are still available with the states and Union Territories (UTs) to be administered. The Centre has so far claimed to have provided nearly 16.37 crore vaccine doses (16,37,62,300) to states and UTs “free of cost” of which the total consumption including wastages is 15,58,48,782 doses.