Vaccination of eligible children a priority: PM

It’s clear that Covid-19 is not fully over, Modi says in meet with CMS

OUR PRIORITY IS TO VACCINATE ALL ELIGIBLE CHILDREN AT THE EARLIEST. SPECIAL CAMPAIGNS WILL ALSO BE NEEDED IN SCHOOLS. TEACHERS, AND PARENTS SHOULD BE AWARE OF THIS

NARENDRA MODI Prime Minister

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met chief ministers of states on Wednesday to review the increase in Covid cases across the country.

The PM said vaccinating all eligible children at the earliest is a priority for the government and specialised programmes are needed to be conducted in schools to achieve this feat.

Modi asserted, “It is clear that the corona challenge is not fully over.”

The PM said Omicron and its sub-variants can create problems as evident by the case of many countries of Europe. The subvariants are causing many surges in many countries. The PM said India had been able to handle the situation better than many countries, but the increasing cases in some states in the last two weeks show that we need to stay alert.

Citing the rise in Covid-19 cases in some states in the last two weeks, he said there was a need to remain alert. He spoke about the need for states to regularly monitor and report data, maintain effective surveillance, upgrade infrastructure and utilise funds given by the Centre.

He added, “Our priority is to vaccinate all eligible children at the earliest. Special campaigns will also be needed in schools. Teachers and parents should be aware of this.”

The Prime Minister mentioned that schools have opened after a long time and a lot of parents are worried by the increased number of cases in some places. On Tuesday, the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) approved two vaccines — Covaxin and Corbevax — for use in children below 12 years.

“There were no plans yet to include children below 12 years in the vaccination drive. There is no scientific evidence about their vulnerability,” sources in the Union Ministry of Health said.

"Our scientists and experts are continuously monitoring the national and global situation. We have to work on their suggestions with a pre-emptive, pro-active and collective approach,” the PM said in the review meeting.

He stressed on the strategy of test, track and treat. In the current situation of coronavirus, it is necessary that we have a 100 per cent RT-PCR test for patients admitted in hospitals who are serious influenza cases.

Several chief ministers, including West Bengal's Mamata Banerjee, Chhattisgarh's Bhupesh Baghel, Delhi's Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab's Bhagwant Mann, participated in the interaction.

Kejriwal said in recent days, Delhi witnessed a high positivity rate. He also spoke about masks having been made mandatory again. Haryana Chief Minister said a high number of cases in the state is mainly being seen around Delhi, in Gurugram and Faridabad.

India recorded 2,927 fresh infections in a day which pushed the case tally to 43,065,496 while the active caseload increased to 16,279, according to Union Health Ministry data on Wednesday.