All You Need to Know About COVID-19 Vaccination in India

Introduction of COVID-19 vaccine is the big step that can take us closer to curb the pandemic. The launch of two coronavirus vaccines– covishield by Serum Institute of India and Covaxin by Bharat Biotech takes us close to fighting the pandemic while making us free from the fear of this deadly virus. Recently, all the states in India are advised to make the most of private hospitals to operate as vaccination sites as India has entered the second phase of the inoculation drive.

People who are above the age of 60 along with the people with co-morbidities in the age group of 45-59 years are included in the second phase of Covid-19 vaccination. The world’s largest vaccination drive was launched by India on 16 January and during the second phase of the vaccination drive almost 1.03 crore people got injected including health care workers and frontline workers.

President Ram Nath Kovind got injected with the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine at the Army R&R Hospital in New Delhi on Wednesday. He expresses gratitude to doctors, nurses, health workers and administrators who helped the country from the very beginning in battling this virus and advised the citizens of the country who are eligible to get inoculated. The process of vaccination is getting on the right track as the numbers of top political leaders got their first shots of vaccine. Apart from the president, the chief minister of Goa Pramod Sawant was also vaccinated yesterday.
As per the government, more than 1.48 crore doses of the COVID-19 vaccine were administered till 1 pm today since the second phase of the inoculation drive kickstarted on Monday. Out of this, 2,08,791 a major number of people fall in the age group of 60 or above or are between the age group of 45-60 with comorbidities. Also, 50 lakhs registration of vaccination has been received by the government through the CoWIN app.

Which comorbidities are included?
The co-morbidities prioritised in this phase include diabetes, heart failure, post-cardiac transplant, moderate or severe valvular heart disease, end-stage kidney disease on haemodialysis and a severe respiratory disease. Those with a record of hospitalisation with these co-morbidities in the last two years or those with the on-going treatment of the diseases such as primary immunodeficiency diseases/HIV infection and angina and hypertension/diabetes are also lined up in this phase.

Footnote
The vaccine for COVID-19 will be voluntary, as per the health minister. Taking two shots of this vaccine is extremely important in order to get effective results. Get yourself registered for the vaccination to safeguard your health and your loved ones. Until then, keep on taking precautions and follow the safety protocols!