Covid-19: PM announces vaccination drive for 15-18 age group
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saturday announced extension of India’s vaccination programme to teenagers aged between 15 and 18 while also rolling out a precautionary dose of vaccination for healthcare and frontline workers as well as those above the age of 60 who have comorbidities.
Addressing the nation at 9.45 pm, the PM said the vaccines will start rolling out for teenagers from January 3 while the booster shots will be available from Jaunty 10.
Interestingly, the PM did not use the term booster shots and preferred to call them precaution doses.
Vaccination for children in the age of 15-18 years will begin from January 3, he said. Those with comorbidities and above 60 years of age on the recommendation of their doctors will be eligible for precaution doses from January 10 next year, he added.
Greeting the nation on Christmas, PM Modi said considering that it was also the birth anniversary of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, this was a good day to announce these new measures in India’s fight against Covid-19.
He said while the experience of each country has been different in how the new Omicron variant was impacting them, the PM underlined that caution at an individual level has been found to be most effective against preventing spread of the virus.
“Realising the seriousness of Covid-19, today more than 141 crore doses have been administered in India. More than 90% eligible population has been vaccinated with the first dose…In many countries of the world number of infects are increasing due to the new variant of Covid. I appeal to all, not to panic but remain vigilant, and use masks and sanitize hands regularly,” he said.
He added, “India has 18 lakh isolation beds, 5 lakh oxygen supported beds, 1.40 lakh ICU beds, 90,000 pediatric ICU & non-ICU beds. We have more than 3,000 working PSA oxygen plants, 4 lakh oxygen cylinders have been distributed throughout the nation.”
He further said, “Realising the seriousness of COVID19, today more than 141 crore doses have been administered in India. More than 90% eligible population has been vaccinated with the first dose of vaccine.” (Agencies)
Press Trust of India
