Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Ministers are likely to be vaccinated against Covid-19 in the second round, according to sources. At the meeting of the CMs, the PM said that the turn of other politicians, above 50, would come in the next step.
The third group to be vaccinated is likely to be people over the age of 50, after health care and frontline employees such as police, armed forces and municipal workers, followed by those who are under 50 but suffer from co-morbidities.
At the meeting between PM Modi and the state chief ministers on November 24, a preliminary priority for vaccination was discussed and communicated to state governments, said individuals familiar with the development, the Economic Times said.
A classification of 50 years plus seems to be an extension of the earlier category that was under consideration. So far, government officials have said that this category would include ‘senior citizens’ and’ elderly ‘and that this classification would be required to consist of individuals over the age of 65.
“In India, co-morbidities like hypertension, diabetes and coronary heart diseases occur much earlier than in western populations. So, prioritising the 50 plus population is the right approach,” President K Srinath Reddy of the Public Health Foundation of India was quoted as saying.
Earlier this month, the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) approved the Oxford Covid-19 Covishield vaccine, manufactured by the Serum Institute, and developed Bharat Biotech’s indigenous Covaxin for restricted emergency use in the region, paving the way for a major inoculation push. This is the largest vaccination program in the world, spanning the entire length and breadth of the country.