Vaccination for 6-12 age group soon, says Modi amid Covid case spike in India

Chennai: Covid vaccination of all eligible children at the earliest is a priority for the government and specialised programmes will need to be conducted for it in schools, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday.

The announcement came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting with state heads.

"I urge all states to get safety audits of all hospitals done on a priority basis to prevent fire incidents which have been increasing amid heatwave. Our response time should also be minimal," the Prime Minister briefed.

Citing rise in Covid cases in some states in the last two weeks, he said there was a need to remain alert.

"Our scientists and experts are continuously monitoring the national and global situation. We have to work on their suggestions with a pre-emptive, pro-active and collective approach," he said.

His remarks come a day after Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said India's drug regulator has granted restricted emergency use authorisation for Biological E's COVID-19 vaccine Corbevax for those aged five to 12 years and Bharat Biotech's Covaxin for children in the age group of six to 12 years.

Modi also called for scaling up infrastructure and manpower at medical colleges and district hospitals.

Several chief ministers, including West Bengal's Mamata Banerjee, Chhattisgarh's Bhupesh Baghel, Delhi's Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab's Bhagwant Mann, participated in the interaction.

India recorded 2,927 fresh infections in a day which pushed the case tally to 4,30,65,496 while the active caseload increased to 16,279, according to Union Health Ministry data on Wednesday.

The death toll has climbed to 5,23,654 with 32 more fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.