New Delhi: After frontline workers, people above 50 and with comorbidities will get the jab in the 2nd phase of vaccination expected to start in March.
The government will be releasing a list of comorbidities for the inclusion in the priority list. Anyone with congenital heart disease that leads to pulmonary arterial hypertension, end-stage kidney disease, or cancers such as lymphoma, leukaemia and myeloma will be included.
The drive will cover around 26 crore people above the age of 50.
“The guidelines to identify individuals with comorbidities have already been prepared. It will be unveiled very soon. Apart from the expert group, we have discussed with state governments and we are in comfort that this is implementable,” NITI Aayog member Dr VK Paul said at a webinar on Thursday.
The committee, which will draft and finalise a list and degree of the comorbidities, has about 15 to 20 experts, two from cardiology, two from nephrology, and so on, informed Paul.
Though a crore people have been vaccinated so far, India still falls short of the target.
Paul informed that 80 per cent of COVID-19 deaths occurred in individuals above the age of 50 and around two-thirds of the people had some serious comorbidities.
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