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As India raced to vaccinate all eligible groups, a whopping 40 lakh teens got their first dose on Monday, the first day of the drive to inoculate the 15-18 set. There was a 22 per cent surge in cases to 33,750 in the 24 hours ended on Monday morning, with 123 deaths.
The Omicron tally increased to 1,787 with Maharashtra and Delhi reporting the highest numbers at 578 and 351, respectively.
Booster, jabs for under 15
Simultaneously, the plan to administer the booster dose to all eligible groups and expand children’s vaccination to those below 15 is also expected to be rolled out in phases.
Chairman of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) NK Arora told BusinessLine that the government will take a decision on vaccinating those under 15 after inoculating the 7.5 crore in the 15-18 set.
“We can’t ignore the safety issue among children when it comes to vaccination. With the experience gained by vaccinating those in the 15-18 set, we will take a further call on covering the younger children,” he said.
“Children seem to be quite excited about their vaccination programme and that’s why they turned up in such huge numbers for their first dose,” RS Sharma, Head of National Health Authority and in-charge of CoWIN the platform, told BusinessLine .
Vaccine availability is not expected to be a problem with Bharat Biotech, the manufacturer of Covaxin, saying that the company is “marching towards the milestone of one-billion dose capacity”.
In the National Capital, Covid cases stood at 4,099 with one death. The positivity rate jumped to 6.46 per cent and, according to Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) rules, a red alert will have to be announced if it goes beyond 5 per cent and stays there continuously for two days. The red alert will lead to a complete curfew and shutting down of most economic activity.
The DDMA is expected to hold a meeting on Tuesday with Lt Governor Anil Baijal and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
A sharp jump in active cases was seen in many States/UTs including Maharashtra, West Bengal, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Jharkhand, and Karnataka.
Surge in Maharashtra
In Maharashtra, the total Covid cases surged to 12,160 from 11,877 on Sunday. There were 11 fatalities. Mumbai alone reported 8,082 cases.
The total number of vaccination doses administered so far stood at 145.68 crore with 91.24 lakh shots given till 6:30 pm on Monday. Also, the government said more than 19.84 crore doses are still available with the States/UTs
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