Vaccination For All Age Groups Not Anytime Soon, Says Centre

The Union Health Ministry said some groups were prioritized because of the limited supply of vaccines. "Why did we prioritise some groups over others? Because in this phase of vaccination (till around July), vaccines will be in limited supply," Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan told news agency ANI last evening.

Mr Bhushan's remarks came after criticism of his earlier remarks at a press conference rejecting wider vaccinations for now. "The approach is that those vulnerable to mortality need to be covered soonest. The aim is to protect the most vulnerable. The aim is never to vaccinate whoever wants it, but always whoever needs it," Mr Bhushan had said.

Mr Bhushan later told ANI it was a "fallacy that the vaccination process is controlled by the state". Pointing to the limited supply of vaccines till July, he said the government was following a "dynamic supply-demand mapping model" to decide when to open up vaccines to other age groups.

At the press conference earlier, the government had said the arsenal for fighting the virus surge remained the same - Covid-appropriate behaviour and containment measures. "When the time comes to open it to all, then we will," said VK Paul, Member-Health, Niti Aayog.

Dr Paul said opening up inoculations had to be seen from a scientific perspective. "We are lucky about our vaccine production pace, but we can't trivialize it. So far no research has shown whether herd immunity develops at so and so pace...The answer is not yet sorted out. But we do know that all vaccines being given today reduce mortality and severe disease. That is the priority."

India started inoculations with frontline and health workers, and went on to people above 60 and those over 45 with other illnesses. In the latest round, all above 45 are being vaccinated. So far, over eight crore people have been vaccinated.

A wave of infections over the past few weeks saw the biggest-ever daily surge of more than a lakh on Monday. Today, India reports 1.07 lakh new cases in a day.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal are among those who have called for widening the nationwide drive to cover most adults.

The Indian Medical Association, besides calling for walk-in vaccinations, urged the government to include private sector family clinics in the drive. "Vaccination stands as a single evidence-based resource for us to restrict the cases by raising the personal immune response and pave the way for herd immunity to decrease the severity of the disease," the IMA said in its letter.

Amid these calls, Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla told NDTV that the existing production capacity to manufacture Covishield, one of the two vaccines being administered in India, is "very stressed, to put it frankly". Mr Poonawalla said the SII - which produces between 60 and 65 million doses per month presently, has so far given around 100 million doses to the centre and exported 60 million - but is "still short of being able to supply to every Indian" who needs the vaccine.