Vijayawada: The Andhra Pradesh government would administer Covid19 vaccine to nearly 24 lakh teenagers aged between 15 and 18 from Jan. 3. The Centre recently issued directions to the states and Union Territories to do this.
Jabs will also be given to those aged above 60 years with comorbidities from Jan. 10 as part of the efforts to contain the highly infectious Covid19 variant, Omicron.
Already, the Union health ministry issued directions on registrations for taking Covid-19 jab for teenagers on CoWIN app from Jan. 1. As AP has already registered six cases of Omicron and the number is going up, the state health authorities have sent samples of 67 international travellers and their 12 contacts who tested Covid positive, for genome sequencing at CCMB in Hyderabad.
Child specialists say parents should play a proactive role to encourage their wards aged between 15 and 18 to take Covid19 jab without fail, as the new variant is spreading and can affect the health of their parents and grandparents suffering from health complications.
They say that though the new variant is spreading fast, the symptoms are relatively mild so far – mild fever, body pain etc, which can be tackled with regular doses of medicines like paracetamol. Hence, the death rate is relatively less with those infected with Omicron.
The AP unit secretary of Indian Academy of Pediatrics Dr Pawan Kalyan said, “Parents should take the responsibility to ensure their children aged between 15 and 18 go for the Covid-19 jab. It is better to start Covid19 jabs to even the children aged three years up.”
Meanwhile, the AP branch of Indian Medical Association has sent an advisory to the state government on the preparedness for the third wave of Coronavirus pandemic, by asking it to keep stocks of all essential medicines especially cocktail infusions and tocilizumab along with steroids, oxygen and other medicines. It wants the government to focus on hospitals rather than isolation and quarantine centres, to expedite vaccination and cover 80 per cent of targeted population and give booster dose to all frontline workers on a war footing.
IMA’s state unit president Dr Srinivasa Raju said, “We appeal to the government to enforce Covid19-appropriate behaviour among the people strictly, so as to contain the spread of the Omicron variant of Coronavirus in the state.”
