Amid recording the unprecedented rise of COVID-19 cases in what has become the second wave of the pandemic, the Indian government has on Monday announced that people all those above 18 years of age can get the COVID-19 vaccine from May 1. The development has come when there have been expectations and demands to the government to inoculate the vaccine for 18 years and above in the wake of heavy infections among young people.

India will be unveiling its third phase of the COVID-19 vaccine on May 1 and while the first and second phases concentrated on administering the vaccines for the frontline workers and people above 45 years of age respectively, the third phase will concentrate on vaccinating the people who are 18 years of age and above. The move has come when the country has been witnessing the exponential rise of cases with recording the highest single-day surges.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has chaired a high-level meeting with the health officials on Monday concerning the COVID-19 situation and expansion of the vaccination drive. Following the meeting, a press release said, "In a meeting chaired by PM Narendra Modi, an important decision of allowing vaccination to everyone above the age of 18 from 1st May has been taken".

Along with the decision of vaccinating the 18 years and above, the government has also made crucial decisions including incentivizing the vaccine manufacturers to ramp up the production, providing greater flexibility for the stakeholders to customize the local needs, and attracting new national and international players. The vaccine manufacturers have also been directed to supply 50% of their monthly Central Drugs Laboratory (CDL) doses to the Indian government. 

They can supply the rest 50% of doses to the state governments and the open market. The Central government has asked the private hospitals to secure vaccines from the 50% quota allotted to the state governments and the states can procure directly from the manufacturers. The Center has said that all vaccination, including at the government-run centers, private, and open market, should have to follow the government protocol such as updating in CoWIN platform. 

The press release said that the private vaccination providers shall transparently declare their self-set vaccination price. The Union government has said that it will allocate vaccines to states and Union Territories based on the extent of infection- number of active cases and performance -speed of administration. The development has come against the backdrop of a dearth of vaccines reported by several states. 

Some of the states had suspended vaccine drives while the people are waiting for additional doses. The decision has also come weeks after the Drug Controller of India has approved the Russian-made vaccine Sputnik V for emergency use in India. Sputnik V joins as the third COVID-19 vaccine in India after Covishield and Covaxin. The Russian vaccine had recorded a 91.6% of efficacy rate during the interim analysis of phase 3 clinical trial, which included data on 19,866 volunteers in Russia. This Russian-made vaccine is meant to be administered to those above 18 years. 

In what has become the largest vaccination drive in the world, India has begun its vaccination program on January 16 with the motive of inoculating doses for over three crore frontline workers in the first phase. Amid the first phase, the Center has unveiled the second drive on March 1 to vaccinate senior citizens above the age of 60 and people who are about 45 years and have specific comorbidities. However, the Center has expanded the drive from April 1 to vaccinate everyone above 45 years and now, the Center has unveiled its third phase of vaccination drive to inoculate vaccine shots for the people above 18 years of age from May 1.