Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday announced vaccination for children aged above 15 years and booster dose for front line workers. Vaccination for children will begin from January 3 next year.
He also urged the people to be cautious while celebrating as coronavirus cases are rising in the country due to highly infectious variant, Omicron.
The announcement comes amid a steady rise in the cases of the highly contagious Omicron variant of Covid-19. The news also comes as the Drug Controller General of India (DGCI) on Saturday gave Bharat Biotech approval for emergency use authorisation of Covaxin Covid-19 vaccine for children in the 12-18 years age group, according to reports. The Subject Expert Committee (SEC) had in October recommended DGCI to grant emergency use to Covaxin for children.
Also Read: DCGI approves Covaxin for emergency use for kids
Healthcare and frontline workers will be provided with “precautionary doses” from January 10 next year, he added.
People above 60 years of age who have co-morbidities will also have the option to take the booster dose on a recommendation from doctors. This will also start from January 10.
PM Modi assured the citizens that all possible preparations are in order to tackle increasing infections. He listed the number of hospital beds, oxygen beds available, and vaccination progress.
“Covid isn’t past us yet. Being careful is very important,” he said.
(With inputs from agencies)
