After PM Modi's announcement, Congress demands COVID vaccination for kids aged over 5

Addressing a media briefing on Sunday, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala came down heavily on the Centre for its policy on vaccination for children. Citing the policy framework in other countries, he batted to enable children aged 5 and above get inoculated and go to school once again.

According to him, school-going children and their families are currently at the threat of contracting the Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus. Congress' demand comes in the wake of Bharat Biotech receiving approval for the emergency use of Covaxin in children between the ages of 12 and 18. 

Congress general secretary Randeep Surjewala remarked, "Why does the Modi government have no policy to administer the vaccine to youths below the age of 15? Congress leaders have examined the vaccine policy across the world with experts. In the entire world, persons in the 3-18 age group are being administered the vaccine.

In China and Middle East countries, children aged three and above are eligible for inoculation. In America, children aged 5 and above are eligible for vaccination. The coverage is nearly 30-35%. African countries, which are way less developed than us, are also vaccinating persons aged 12 and above." 

He added, "Is it not right that children going back to school who are studying in various classes till the 8th/9th grades- i.e crores of children, their parents, grandparents, uncles are possible cases of Omicron? How should we send our children to school? Modi Ji, tell us. On June 22, you told the Supreme Court in an affidavit that we can administer vaccines to those aged above 12 and our clinical trial for those aged above two is underway. You lied to the Supreme Court." 

COVID-19 vaccination in India

At present, there are 75,841 active coronavirus cases in India whereas 3,42,37,495 patients have recovered and 4,79,997 deaths have been reported. The improvement in India's COVID-19 situation has been attributed to the rapid progress in vaccination.

The country's vaccine drive against COVID-19 commenced on 16th January, with healthcare workers getting inoculated in the first phase. This was opened up to frontline workers on 2nd February while those aged above 60 and above 45 with co-morbidities became eligible for vaccination from March 1.

While everyone aged above 45 could get vaccinated from April 1, all adults were added to the vaccination coverage category on May 1. In a huge achievement, India completed administering one crore coronavirus vaccine doses on 21st October. 

Addressing the nation on December 25, PM Modi announced that children aged between 15 and 18 will be vaccinated from January 3. Moreover, he revealed that a 'precaution dose' of vaccine will also be administered to healthcare and frontline workers, and persons aged above 60 having co-morbidities, starting from January 10.

This came after a growing demand for the booster dose amid the Omicron threat. Apart from Covishield and Covaxin, the Drugs Controller General of India has approved Sputnik V, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson's Janssen vaccine, and Zydus Cadila's ZyCoV-D. 

A total of 83,81,16,723 citizens have been inoculated whereas 57,93,72,393 of them have received the second dose of the vaccine too.