Free COVID-19 vaccination for people above 50? Here’s what the government says

NEW DELHI: With just weeks remaining for the start of COVID-19 vaccination for people above 50 years of age, the Union government has still not decided whether this priority group will receive the doses free of cost on the lines of healthcare and frontline workers who are currently being immunised under a nationwide programme.

Dr VK Paul, member (health) NITI Aayog and Chairperson, National Task Force For Covid-19, said on Wednesday that no decision regarding free vaccination to people above 50 years of age - who fall in the third priority group of vaccination -- has been made by the Centre so far. He added that meetings with state heads would follow soon to explore the possibility of free vaccination of the subset.

"We have already provided vaccines free to all the healthcare and frontline workers. For people above 50 years of age, meetings between the states and union would be conducted to discuss the sharing of expenditure. However, no decision is made so far," Paul said.

The union government has prioritised 30 crore Indian population to receive Covid vaccines. The government has divided this vast range into three groups which include 1 crore of healthcare workers, 2 crore frontline workers and remaining 27 crores of the general population who are above 50 years of age and more susceptible to be exposed to the Covid-19.

The government is providing free vaccines to health care and frontline workers which constitute nearly 3 crore of the total population of the country. Meanwhile, Paul also explained why the government prioritised people above 50 years of age to receive Covid-19 vaccines. He shared that of the total fatalities caused by Covid, 78% were those aged above 50 years.

"Once you reach the age of 50, you are vulnerable to develop 70% of the underlying medical conditions (diabetes, hypertension etc) and become more vulnerable to any kind of viral infection," Paul said.

"Since Covid-19 is also a viral disease and data suggests it brings more damage to people above 50 (years) and with co-morbidities, we took a public health approach and decided to prioritise this population fraction along with our Covid-19 warriors,`" he explained.

Asked whether the remaining population would also be prioritised, Paul said that an evaluation post immunisation of all the priority groups would be done to decide further. "Things like stockpiling of vaccines would be evaluated to account if people need further vaccinations and how," Paul added.

Amid all this, active COVID-19 cases in the country have dropped to 1.41 lakh comprising just 1.30 per cent of the total infections, while 33 states and UTs have reported less than 5000 active cases in a span of 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry said on Wednesday.

#CoronaVirusUpdates:

Total #COVID19 Cases in India (as on February 10, 2021)

97.27% Cured/Discharged/Migrated (1,05,61,608)
1.30% Active cases (1,41,511)
1.43% Deaths (1,55,252)

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases = Cured/Discharged/Migrated+Active cases+Deaths pic.twitter.com/N22xOZuCBo — #IndiaFightsCorona (@COVIDNewsByMIB) February 10, 2021

Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli currently have zero active cases. A total of 11,067 new daily cases have been recorded in a span of 24 hours whereas 13,087 patients have recovered during the same period. It has led to a net decline of 2,114 cases from the total active caseload, the Health Ministry highlighted.

Kerala and Maharashtra account for 71 per cent of the total active cases of the country, the Ministry said.

Nineteen states and UTs have not reported any death in a span of 24 hours. These are Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, J&K (UT), Jharkhand, Puducherry, Manipur, Nagaland, Lakshadweep, Meghalaya, Sikkim, A&N Islands, Ladakh (UT), Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura and Daman and Diu and Dadar and Nagar Haveli.

India's cumulative recoveries have surged to 1,05,61,608, it added.

(With IANS inputs)