Omar Abdullah, son of the NC president, took to Twitter to thank the doctors and other staff at the hospital for administering the vaccine to his father.

The vaccination drive is currently restricted to citizens aged above 60 and 45-plus with comorbidities.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet decided this week to widen its inoculation drive by including everyone above 45 from April 1, and many states battling a surge in infections have demanded that all adults be covered.

Researchers say more data is needed to determine whether protection lasts after six months.

The Phase I clinical trial should begin anytime soon. The animal toxicity and safety studies that was conducted as part of preclinical studies have produced desired results, says Vikas Thapar; company looking for foreign tie ups in due course

Authorities have allowed companies in critical sectors such as ports and power to vaccinate employees even if they are not old enough to be normally eligible. Companies say they are diligently abiding by the rules in their vaccination drives.

Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that funds collected in the Assam Arogya Nidhi in 2020 will be used for procurement of COVID-19 vaccines.

Multiple states are likely to follow the guiding principles the Centre had adopted when the first phase of the vaccination drive started in January. This means, states would prioritise vulnerable sections even within the 18-45 age group.

Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik has said that the initiative has already been discussed with the state Cabinet and global tenders for the same will be floated soon.

COVID-19 vaccination: Registration on the CoWIN portal is mandatory for the 18-44 age group. No walk-in facilities will be available for this group initially.

The ministry further added that this will “also reduce opportunities of impersonation and wrongful use of flexibilities provided in CoWIN”.

Dr Harsh Vardhan also requested the states and UTs to be vigilant against the wastage of jabs, the statement said.

The AAP leader rued that there has been no clarity on the supply of the next installment of Covaxin for this category, though the central government had promised to provide more doses in June.

The BMC will start the inoculation drive with 35 centres across Mumbai.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive on January 16.

With the administration of more than 27 lakh doses in the last 24 hours, India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 162.26 crore as per provisional reports till 7 am today, the health ministry updated.

In November 2021, the drug firm had said that it had received an order to supply one crore doses of its coronavirus vaccine to the government at Rs 265 per dose