In a surprise address to the nation on Saturday night, Prime minister Narendra Modi announced booster doses for 60+ and frontline staff coupled with vaccines for age group 15-18.
This major announcement came on the double celebration occasion of Christmas as well as the birth anniversary of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
According to the prime minister, India will start vaccinating children between the ages of 15 to 18 from January 3 next year. While 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 from January 10 onwards.
In the wake of rising fear due to the newly emerged Omicron variant of Coronavirus, Prime Minister appealed to people not to panic but be careful and alert. All Covid-19 norms like using masks, washing hands regularly, and following social distancing shall be followed religiously, PM said in his address to the nation.
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.
Today, the nation has 18 lakh isolation beds, 5 lakh oxygen-supported beds, 1.4 lakh ICU beds, and 90,000 special beds for children. Today, we have over 3,000 functional PSA Oxygen plants and 4 lakh Oxygen cylinders have been provided to all states," he said.
"Apart from research on the vaccine, we were also working on approval processes, supply chains, distribution, training, IT support system, and certification. With these efforts, India started vaccinating its citizens on January 16 this year," he said.
Today, more than 61 percent of India's adult population has received both doses of the vaccine. Similarly, about 90 percent of the adult population has been given a single dose of the vaccine," he said.
Credits - NDTV