The Maharashtra government on Wednesday announced it will provide free coronavirus vaccines for those in the age group of 18 to 44. This decision was taken at the Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai.
The third phase of vaccination will begin on May 1, making all adults in the country eligible for the vaccine. Several states – Delhi, Gujarat, Odisha, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Jharkhand, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Goa, Sikkim, Bihar, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana – have already announced free vaccination for beneficiaries in the age group of 18-45.
The registration process for the third phase of inoculation is set to begin at 4 pm on Wednesday.
However, the governments of Assam, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Punjab, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand have already announced that they were unlikely to begin vaccinating all adults from May 1 because of the unavailability of vaccines.
Under the new vaccination policy that will come into effect on May 1, 50% of the shots manufactured will be earmarked for the Centre. This quota will be used to inoculate priority groups who were already eligible for the shots. So, only half of the vaccines manufactured from May 1 will have to be used to accommodate 60 crore new beneficiaries who will become eligible in third phase.
So far, more than 14.59 crore shots have been administered, while nearly 2.41 crore beneficiaries have received both their doses, according to government data.
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