PM: Discipline and individual alertness our big strength

Amid rising Covid cases linked to Omicron Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said individual alertness and discipline are a big strength of the country in the fight against the new variant of CoronavirusIn his Mann Ki Baat radio broadcast Modi said India has done ldquounprecedentedrdquo work in its inoculation drive if its vaccination numbers are compared with global figures He however also asked people to maintain caution against the new variant of the virusUnion Home Minister Amit Shah addresses BJP supporters in Kasganj on Sunday PicANIldquoThis new Omicron variant is being constantly reviewed by our scientists Every day they are getting new data and steps are being taken based on their suggestionsrdquo Modi said Individual alertness and discipline are a ldquobig strengthrdquo of the country in the fight against the new variant of coronavirus he saidOur experience of the last two years is that our own effort as a citizen is very important to defeat this global pandemic he added ldquoIt is our collective strength which will defeat corona We have to enter 2022 with this sense of responsibilityrdquo he said ldquoCrossing the 140 million vaccine doses is an achievement of each and every Indian This shows the trust of every Indian in the system shows trust in science and in scientists and is also a testament to the willpower of we Indians who are fulfilling our responsibilities towards the societyrdquoA beneficiary gets a vaccine dose at Khunti of Jharkhand on Dec 24 PicANICall on vax for kids unscientific ExpertAn AIIMS epidemiologist who is the principal investigator of Covaxin trials for adults and children at the institute has termed the decision to vaccinate children ldquounscientificrdquo and said it will not yield any additional benefit Dr Sanjay K Rai said before implementing the decision data from countries that have already started vaccinating children should be analysedVaccination underway in Barmer district of Rajasthan PicANIlsquoNTAGI working on gap for the Covid booster shotrsquoThe gap between the second dose of Covid19 vaccine and the third which is being called a ldquoprecaution doserdquo is likely to be nine to 12 months official sources said on Sunday The nittygritty of the gaps for the vaccines currently being used in Indiarsquos inoculation programmemdashCovishield and Covaxinmdashis being worked out and a final decision over this will be taken soon they saidA Delhi market on Xmas PicANIPrime Minister Narendra Modi in a televised address to the nation on Saturday night announced that vaccination against Covid19 for children between 1518 years will start from January 3 while ldquoprecaution doserdquo for healthcare and frontline workers would be administered from January 10 The decisions came amid rising Covid cases linked to the Omicron variant of the virus The precaution dose denotes a third dose of the vaccine for the fully vaccinated but Modi refrained from using the term ldquobooster doserdquo as it is generally referred toldquoThe gap between the second and the precautionary dose of Covid vaccine is likely to be nine to 12 months with the immunisation division and the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation NTAGI discussing on these linesrdquo a source said Over 61 per cent of Indiarsquos adult population has received both doses of the vaccine Similarly about 90 per cent of the adult population has received the first dose34786802Total no of Coronavirus cases in India so far479682Total no of deaths due to the virus in India so far76766Total no of active cases in IndiaThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever