Tirupati: A 1.3L children in 12 to 14 yrs age group to be vaccinated from today

Tirupati: Chittoor district has geared up to inoculate about 1.30 lakh children in the age group of 12-14 years with Covid vaccines from Wednesday onwards. The Central government has announced a vaccination drive for children along with precautionary doses for all those above 60 years of age now.

The vaccination programme went off well on expected lines in the district to reach the targets. Since January 16, 2021, the day of administering the first Covid shot, the district so far administered 76.19 lakh doses which include both the first and second doses in various categories and precautionary doses.

The official statistics reveal that among other categories, 2.09 lakh first doses were given to children in the 15-17 age group while 1.95 lakh second doses are administered. Similarly, 17.87 lakh first doses and 18.49 lakh second doses were given to people in the age group of 18-44 years. Taking various categories together, the district administered a total of 36.96 lakh first doses, 37.97 lakh second doses and 1.26 lakh precaution doses till now.

It was learnt that the officials want to intensify the process to cover the maximum number of beneficiaries for precautionary doses. The staff were even calling the people who are eligible for precautionary doses and asking them to take the vaccine immediately. To reach further targets, they may go door to door to cover the beneficiaries.

District Immunisation Officer (DIO) Dr P Raviraju told The Hans India that children will be given Corbevax doses and the stocks will reach the district by Wednesday morning. Precautionary doses to above 60 years old people will also be given. As per the government's directives, the 12-14 years children will be given jabs at their respective schools from Wednesday onwards. All precautionary steps will be taken while vaccinating the children. He said that on the occasion of National Immunisation Day which is celebrated every year on March 16 to convey the importance of vaccination, mandal level programmes were planned to felicitate one best ANM and two ASHA workers chosen for their best service during pulse polio drive. It will be organised in each and every mandal.