PANJIM: After Maharashtra and Delhi, the State government also wants Centre to immediately open up COVID-19 vaccination for all above the age of 18 years as many youngsters are getting infected to the virus.
Ironically, the suggestion comes days after the Union Health Ministry ruled out COVID-19 vaccination for people below 45 years, at this stage, on grounds that it needed to priorities the vulnerable groups.
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Addressing the media persons on Friday, Minister for Health Vishwajit Rane said it is for the Government of India to take a call on relaxing the age limit for vaccination at this stage.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked all the Chief Ministers to make their suggestions. Accordingly, our Chief Minister will also give suggestions,” he said.
“We should make the suggestion for age relaxation. I feel age limit should be brought down from 45 years to 18 years and above as many younger people are affected with this new strain,” the Minister added.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Indian Medical Association and Association of Healthcare Providers (India) have already written to the Prime Minister seeking to widen the vaccination ambit to include anyone above 18 years.
Lowering down his demand for stringent restrictions, Rane too said that the lockdowns and curfews severely impact the economy and the State will have to fight COVID-19 strategically to ensure that both lives and livelihoods are protected, as stressed by the Chief Minister.
Urging the people above 45 years to vaccinate themselves as early as possible, Rane said that the vaccination reduces the impact of COVID-19 pandemic.
“Mortality is brought down. It builds your immunity,” he said.
Speaking about Tika Utsav (Vaccine Festival) from April 11-14, Rane said that on pilot basis, government has planned to launch an outreach programme in the villages to get eligible people to vaccination centres and added that block level officers (BLOs) will be roped in for the effort, after seeking necessary permission from the Election Authority. “BLOs will be roped in because they know the people who are above 45 years,” he said.
For now, the camps will be held at Reis Magos, Pilerne, Penha-de-Franca, Thane, Sattari, Nagargao, Mandrem, Morjim, Parra, Soccorro, Merces, Korgao, Bali, Loliem, Poninguinim and others.
“We need to focus on mass vaccination. The countries that have gone for mass vaccination have seen decline in number of cases drastically. We need to take vaccination at the door step of the people,” Rane said.
Responding to a question, Minister informed that Goa’s vaccine wastage rate is only 1.25 per cent as compared to the national average.
Rane reiterated that the government is planning to set up its own genome sequencing lab since the National Institute of Virology in Pune is taking a long time to identify variants responsible for the new COVID-19 surge. “Many times the media asks us what strain it is. How will I know? So far we have got only five cases of UK strain,” he said.
Rane said that the facility would be set up at a cost of Rs 1.50 crore.
