Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday announced that from January next year, India will begin delivering the first coronavirus vaccine doses to children of ages 15 and above, and booster doses to health care and frontline workers and people above the age of 60 with certain comorbidities.
In a televised address late in the evening, the Prime Minister outlined the preparations the government has made to tackle any surges of Covid-19 cases due to the Omicron variant, before making the announcement.
“For children who are between the ages of 15 years and 18 years, vaccinations will now start in the country. In 2022, it will be launched on January 3,” he said.
“We all have experience that those who are Corona warriors, health care and frontline workers, they have a huge contribution in keeping the country safe in this fight… Therefore, from the point of view of precaution, the government has decided that a ‘precaution dose’ of vaccine will also be started for health care and frontline workers,” the PM said.
He added that citizens above 60 years of age and with certain health conditions will also have the option of “precaution dose” of the vaccine, from January 10 next year, based on the advice of their doctors.
What Prime Minister Modi referred to as “precaution doses” are what have commonly been called booster doses.
The move comes amid calls from experts to expand the vaccine drive, especially booster doses, to fight new variants such as Omicron, which has shown a substantial drop in vaccine efficacy against symptomatic disease.
“In our country, a nasal vaccine and the world’s first DNA vaccine will also start soon,” Modi said, adding that “since the beginning, India’s fight against Corona has been based on scientific principles, scientific opinions and scientific patterns.”
PM Modi also advised caution against the rises of cases during the holiday season.
“We are in the last week of 2021. 2022 is set to arrive. We need to be cautious during the festive period. Infections are rising across several nations due to a new variant of Covid, Omicron. In India, there have been a few cases as well. I would urge all of you not to panic, be careful and alert,” he said.
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