vaccination for children and booster dose as omicron cases rise
India announces :
In his address to the nation, PM Modi made few announcements about India's Covid vaccination drive amid the growing threat posed by the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
Covid vaccine will be available to children aged 15 to 18 starting January 3, 2022. Vaccination is currently only available to people aged 18 and up.
All healthcare and frontline workers will be eligible for the "precaution dosage" or third booster dose of the vaccination starting January 10, 2022.
Those who are 60+ with comorbidities can also get precaution doses on the recommendation of their doctors from January 10th
Several countries, notably the United States and the United Kingdom, have already approved a third booster dose of vaccine for their residents.
According to reports, the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has approved Bharat Biotech's Covaxin for emergency use in children aged 12 to 18.
More than 61 percent of India's adult population has now got both vaccination doses. Similarly, over 90% of the adult population has gotten a single vaccination shot.
India started giving the vaccine to its citizens from January 16 this year. Today India has crossed the unprecedented and very difficult target of 141 crore vaccine doses.
The Union Health Ministry today informed that a total of 578 cases of Omicron variant had been detected in India so far, out of which 115 have recovered or migrated.