58 pc of India’s adult population got least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine
New Delhi, Sep 09 (PTI): The government on Thursday said 58 per cent of India’s adult population has received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine while 18 per cent got both the shots as the total number of jabs administered in the country crossed 72 crore.
Addressing a press conference, officials said India is still going through the second wave of coronavirus infections and it is not over yet.
They said 35 districts in the country are still reporting a weekly Covid positivity rate of over 10 per cent while in 30 districts it is between five to 10 per cent. Providing data about the number of COVID-19 cases reported from different parts of the country, officials said 68.59 per cent of the total infection reported in the country last week was from Kerala. About the vaccination drive, the government said in Sikkim, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Himachal Pradesh all people above 18 years got at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine. “Eighteen per cent of India’s adult population received both the doses of anti-coronavirus vaccine while 58 per cent were administered at least one dose,” an official said.
The cumulative Covid vaccine doses administered in India crossed 72 crore on Thursday, he said.
No scientific body suggests Covid vaccination of kids should be condition to reopen schools
New Delhi: The Union government on Thursday said no scientific body suggests that vaccination of children against COVID-19 should be a condition for reopening schools, but inoculation of teachers, school employees and parents is desirable.
At a press conference, NITI Aayog member (Health) V K Paul said whether children have to be vaccinated and who among them should get the jabs is an evolving scientific and public health discourse. Only a limited number of nations have introduced vaccination of children so far, he said. Besides the aspect of vaccination, the overall epidemiological situation has to be safe for opening schools, he said.
Most importantly, following standard operating procedures about ventilation, seating arrangements, staggered classes and wearing masks among others will be critical when schools reopen, Paul stressed.
“No scientific body, epidemiology, no evidence suggests that vaccination against COVID-19 should be a condition to reopen schools. However, inoculation of teachers, other school employees and parents is desirable,” he told the press conference.
“There is no WHO recommendation also that we should move in that direction for reasons such as low mortality and high incidence of asymptomatic infection. We as a nation and government are working actively in the direction of scientific validation of our vaccines for potential use in children.”
Paul said that Zydus vaccine has also already been licenced for children. How and when it will be administered is being discussed by scientific bodies, Paul said, adding that the trial of Covaxin on children is nearing completion.
“One vaccine (Zydus) has been made available for potential use in children and we are waiting for a decision from NTAGI in this regard,” Paul said.
According to sources, NTAGI will chalk out a roadmap for introducing the three-dose ZyCoV-D vaccine in the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination drive and will also develop a priority list with the focus being on adolescents aged 12-18 years with comorbidities.
