Covid scare: UP to seek Centre’s nod to open vaccination for 18-45 age group

LUCKNOW: The Yogi Adityanath government has decided to approach the Union Health Ministry with the proposal for opening the vaccination to the people in the 18-45 years bracket and also to withdraw the mandatory co-morbidity provision for the 45-60 age group.

Yogi's move comes after the state logged over 200 cases in the last 24 hours.

After consulting CM Yogi over the issue, state Health Minister Jai Pratap Singh has proceeded to prepare the proposal to seek the Centre’s approval on it. As per the sources in the health department, the Centre’s permission would be sought to open Covid inoculation for the people falling in the age group of
18-45, particularly those inflicted with co-morbid conditions like hypertension, diabetes and cardiac problems.

The proposal will also seek permission for doing away with the co-morbidity rider for taking Covid shots for the people falling in the age-group of 45-60 years. Basically, the proposal of the Yogi Adityanath government to the Centre seeks to open vaccination for all above 18 years of age.

As per the State Health Department officials, the reason for sending the proposal was to take the state towards developing ‘herd immunity in the next three to four months. To achieve this, India's most populated state needs to vaccinate around 30% of its 24 crore population.

So far only 34 lakhs people between the age group of 45 to 60 plus have taken Covid jabs. To achieve the target for developing herd immunity, around 7 crore people need to be vaccinated in order to minimise the impact of the fresh surge in cases.

The proposal of allowing vaccination to all above 18 is aimed at checking the spread of the deadly virus as this age group can become prone to the disease for they get out of the house more often.

State Chief Secretary RK Tewari has already issued directives to initiate action against those not wearing masks in public places and maintain mandatory social distancing.

He has also directed to screen air travellers at the airport and passengers at Railway platforms and bus stations coming from outside, particularly from eight states where maximum cases are reported.

The state government has also decided to raise the RTPCR test by 50 per cent and step up the drive for focus and contact testing in addition to reaching its target of 10 million vaccinations by March-end.