Vaccination for 15-18 years from 3 Jan: PM

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday announced that the Covid-19 vaccination for children aged 15-18 years will start from 3 January. This comes after Bharat Biotech’s Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin received approval from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for emergency use for kids aged between 12-18 years, said official sources. In his address to the nation, PM Modi said, “Vaccination for children aged between 15-18 years will begin from January 3, 2022.” Amid concerns over rising Omicron cases, PM Modi on Saturday urged people not to panic and be alert. “In India, many people have been found to be infected with Omicron. I would urge all of you not to panic, be careful and alert. Remember to wash hands and mask,” the Prime Minister said in an address to the nation. The PM said that senior citizens facing co-morbidities will have the option to go for “precaution dose” of Covid-19 on the advice of their doctors. He said corona warriors, healthcare and frontline workers have made a huge contribution in keeping the country safe in the fight against Covid-19. The PM informed that India has 18 lakh isolation beds, 5 lakh oxygen supported beds, 1.40 lakh ICU beds and 90,000 special beds for children.
Earlier, Bharat Biotech had submitted data from clinical trials in the 2-18 years age group for COVAXIN (BBV152) to Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO). The data has been thoroughly reviewed by the CDSCO and Subject Experts Committee (SEC) and has provided their positive recommendations, the vaccine maker had said.
Meanwhile, amid the Omicron scare and surge in cases in various parts of the country, the Union Health Ministry on Saturday said that multi-disciplinary Central teams would be deployed in ten identified states.
“A decision has been taken to deploy multi-disciplinary Central teams to 10 identified States some of which are either reporting an increasing number of Omicron and Covid-19 cases or slow vaccination pace,” said the Union Health Ministry in an official statement. Multi-disciplinary Central teams are to be deployed in Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Mizoram, Karnataka, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Punjab. These teams will be stationed in the states for three to five days and will work along with the State Health Authorities.
As per the Ministry, these teams will specifically look at areas of contact tracing, including surveillance, containment operations, and Covid-19 testing including sending of adequate samples from clusters to the INSACOG network for genome sequencing.
The teams will also be responsible for the enforcement of COVID Appropriate Behaviors, availability of hospital beds, sufficient logistics including ambulances, ventilators, medical oxygen etc, and Covid-19 vaccination progress in the states. “The State level central teams will assess the situation, suggest remedial actions and submit a report every evening by 7 PM on the public health activities being undertaken to both the Central and state government,” the statement further read.
As per the Union Health Ministry, India reported 7,189 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours. The nationwide case tally of the Omicron variant of coronavirus has reached 415.
Meanwhile, among the states, two new cases of Omicron were reported in Maharashtra’s Aurangabad on Saturday, said the state health department. With this, the tally of the Omicron variant in the state has gone up to 110.
Mumbai reported 757 new cases of Covid-19 on Saturday. No fatality was logged in the state capital in the last 24 hours, keeping the death toll total to 16,368. With this, the total number of cases in the city rose to 770,190.