Allow COVID-19 vaccination for all above 25 years of age: Maha CM urges PM Modi

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and urged him to allow COVID-19 vaccination for all above 25 years of age.

He said that vaccinating a large number of young people, especially those who go to work outside their homes, will help reduce the number of patients. Thackeray further requested 1.5 crore additional doses from the Centre so that to get all persons above 45 years can be vaccinated within three weeks.

He added that the state has taken the COVID-19 vaccination very seriously and apprised PM that over 76 lakh people are vaccinated in the state till April 4.

The Maharashtra CM also thanked PM Modi for accepting his proposal of allowing all persons above 45 yrs of age to be made eligible for COVID19 vaccination, according to the Maharashtra Chief Minister Office.

Maharashtra has been witnessing a surge in coronavirus cases in recent days and has been the biggest contributor to India's Covid-19 tally.

India had started COVID-19 vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 with two vaccines -- Covishield (Oxford-AstraZeneca's vaccine manufactured by Serum Institute of India) and Covaxin (manufactured by Bharat Biotech Limited).

India commenced its second phase of the COVID-19 vaccination drive to inoculate people above 60 years and those over 45 with comorbidities against the coronavirus from March 1.

The third phase began on April 1 for all above 45 years of age.

( With inputs from ANI )