Express News Service
MUMBAI: As large number of children and youngsters continue to get infected in the state, Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to allow people above 25 years of age to receive COVID-19 shots. He also demanded 1.5 crore additional doses urgently for six districts.
In a video conference, the Prime Minister agreed to the demand of Thackeray to vaccinate everyone below the age of 45 years. “Vaccinating a large number of young people, especially those who work outside their homes, would help to reduce the number of patients. Maharashtra has always been transparent in giving information on the pandemic. We have also increased the number of testing by opening more labs,” Thackeray told PM.
According to the state public health department’s data, 88,827 children up to 10 years of age had tested positive across the state in the three-month period. The total percentage of children and youth (up to 40 years) infected was around 48 while the percentage of senior citizens (above 60) testing positive was 18 per cent.
Uddhav Thackeray said that they needed more 1.5 crore additional doses to vaccinate people in three weeks in six most infected patient’s districts. “We are ready to vaccinate everyone under the age of 45 in just three weeks for six most infected districts like Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Nashik, Aurangabad, Nagpur. But needs urgently 1.5 crore additional doses,” Thackeray said.
“We are taking measures with the determination that every corona patient must be cured. We have put in place some strict restrictions through the Break the Chain campaign to prevent the virus from becoming more harmful than last year. We have taken vaccination very seriously and till April 4, a total of 76.86 lakh people have been vaccinated across the state. On April 3, we vaccinated 4.62 lakh people in the state. We want to vaccinate as many as people but for that the Center should also give extra dose for it,” Thackeray added.
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