New Delhi: Union Health Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya on Monday appealed to States and Union Territories across India to focus on increasing Covid19 vaccination coverage for school-going children and precaution dose for the elderly.
"Covid is not over yet. There are reports of rising cases of Covid in some States. It is important at this time to be alert and not forget Covid appropriate behaviour such as wearing masks and maintaining physical distance to prevent the spread of the infection," said Mandaviya while interacting with State health ministers and senior officials of States and unions Territories (UTs).
During the meeting that took place through video conferencing, Mandaviya reviewed the progress of the vaccination exercise Har Ghar Dastak 2.0 campaign. Expressing concern over the increasing number of case positivity in several States and UTs, Mandaviya said that increased and timely testing will enable early identification of Covid cases and help to curb the spread of the infection among the community.
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He urged states and UTs to continue and strengthen the surveillance and focus on genome sequencing for identifying new mutants and variants in the country. States were asked to focus on implementing the operational guidelines for the revised surveillance strategy for Covid19 which focuses on surveillance of incoming international travellers and surveillance through health facilities, labs, community etc.
"Let us accelerate our efforts to identify all beneficiaries in the 12-17 age group for the first and second doses, so they can attend schools with the protection of the vaccine," said Mandaviya. He urged States to intensify focussed coverage of 12-17 year age group through the school-based campaign-government/private/informal schools like Madrasas, and daycare schools-along with targeted coverage of non-school going children during the summer vacation.
Mandaviya further said that the population group above 60 years of age is a vulnerable category and needs to be protected with the precaution dose. The Health Minister also suggested to the States and UTs to ensure that there is no wastage of Covid-19 vaccines at any cost. "This must be ensured through active monitoring and on the basis of "first expiry first out" principle, where doses that expire earlier should be used for vaccination first," Mandaviya said.
