The State Government has identified over 83 lakh residents in the age bracket of 45 years to 59 years who would be getting jabs of Covishield vaccine in Jharkhand, irrespective of whether they have comorbid conditions or not, starting April 1, officials spearheading the immunisation programme against Covid-19 in the State said on Tuesday.

However, the rough estimate of 83 lakh people in the aforementioned age bracket also includes the nearly 2 lakh middle-agers with comorbid conditions who have already been vaccinated since March 1, officials said.

“We have identified around 83 lakh people in the age bracket of 45 years to 59 years for the vaccination starting April 1. The figure includes those who have comorbid conditions and are being vaccinated since March 1,” said State Immunisation Officer, Dr. Ajit Prasad.

The State, Prasad said, has received around 21 lakh doses of Covishield vaccine since the launch of the nationwide immunisation programme on January 16. Jharkhand has already administered the first dose of the vaccine to around 1.4 lakh people, including 7.8 lakh senior citizens and around 2 lakh middle agers with comorbid conditions, so far, highlights data with the National Health Mission (NHM). The NHM figures indicate that the state at present has around 9 lakh doses of vaccine available for use during the ongoing phase of immunisation and the one set to begin on April 1, officials said.

“We cannot vaccinate all the 83 lakh beneficiaries in one go. It is a gradual process, and we will be receiving vaccine doses as per the requirement. As of now, we have sufficient vaccine in stock to begin the third phase of immunisation,” said Dr. Prasad.

The Centre recently announced that all people above the age of 45 years were eligible to get vaccinated in India starting April 1. Earlier, on March 1, the country started vaccination for only those middle-agers who were suffering from comorbid conditions. These middle-agers, in the age bracket of 45 to 59 years, were being vaccinated along with senior citizens in the same phase.

The vaccination for people older than 45 years will be done at all the government and private health facilities enlisted for the immunisation programme, officials said. The beneficiaries will have to carry a valid age and identity proof to any of the vaccination centres and get the jab there.

Beneficiaries willing to register online for vaccination can do it by downloading Co-Win 2.0 app on their smartphone