India approves 3rd vaccine dose for entire adult population

New Delhi, Apr 8 (EFE).- The Government of India on Friday authorized the third dose of the vaccine against Covid-19 for all its adult population, to be administered only in private vaccination centers.

This decision at a time when daily coronavirus infections barely exceed 1,000 cases Asian country.

“It has been decided that precaution dose of COVID-19 vaccines will be made available to 18+ population group at private vaccination centres. The administration of precaution dose to 18+ population through private vaccination centres would start from April 10,” the health ministry said in a statement.

However, only those adults who “have completed nine months after the administration of the second dose, would be eligible for the precaution dose,” the statement added.

So far, India has only allowed health workers, frontline personnel, and the population over 60 to be inoculated with the third dose.

Citizens need to pay to get vaccinated against the coronavirus in private centers, unlike those run by the government, which are free of cost.

According to the statement from the health ministry, at least 96 percent of the population over the age of 15 have received the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, while 83 percent have received both shots.

India, which claims it runs the world’s largest vaccination campaign, has administered the third dose to more than 24 million people.

The latest decision comes the same week the Asian country recorded less than 1,000 daily infections for the first time in two years.

This drop in infections, around a thousand a day in recent days, has led several states to begin to withdraw its safety measures against the pandemic.

The western state of Maharashtra, the hardest hit by the disease with 147,789 total deaths, removed the mandatory use of masks on public roads, while the capital city of New Delhi chose to stop imposing fines on those who do not use them. EFE

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