New Delhi: With the reopening of schools raising concern over the safety of children below 15 years of age, Union Health minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Tuesday said in the Rajya Sabha that the government will take a decision to vaccinate this group based on suggestions of an expert group.
The government has constituted an expert group to give suggestions on which age group to be given COVID-19 vaccine first and accordingly vaccination for the 15-18 age group is underway, he said during the Question Hour.
"About 67 per cent in the age group of 15-18 years have been vaccinated so far. The vaccination drive is being implemented in a speedy manner. The future decision (to vaccinate those below 15 year age) will be taken based on the expert group's suggestion," Mandaviya said.
The expert group meets regularly and gives suggestions based on which the government takes action, he added.
The minister was responding to a query by BJP member Syed Zafar Islam on the level of threat of Omicron variant of Coronavirus on children amid reopening of schools and with those below 15 years of age not being vaccinated
Responding to another query by BJP member T G Venkatesh on the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccine, the minister said: "I am happy to share that not only India's ICMR but global scientific institutes have said vaccination will help reduce mortality rate and hospitalisation rate. This has successfully reduced."
In India, 97.5 per cent of eligible beneficiaries have got the first dose of vaccination and 77 per cent of them have received the second dose, he said.
"In developed countries, not more than 90 per cent of people have got their first dose. However,...We are tackling the COVID-19 crisis better," he added.
India saw a single-day rise of 67,597 new Coronavirus infections that rose its tally to 4,23,39,611, while the active cases fell below 10 lakh after around 27 days, the Union Health ministry said on Tuesday. The death toll has climbed to 5,04,062 with 1,188 fresh fatalities, data updated by the ministry at 8 am stated.
The active Covid cases have declined to 9,94,891, comprising 2.35 per cent of the total infections. The national recovery rate improved to 96.46 per cent, the ministry said.
There was a reduction of 1,14,047 cases in the active COVID-19 case count in a span of 24 hours, as per the data.