Amarinder asks Centre's nod for vaccinating youth

March 23, 2021 14:02

Punjab CM Amarinder Singh gets vaccinated

Punjab CM Amarinder Singh has asked the centre to start vaccinating younger people as 81% new Covid samples in the state turn out to be the UK variant. The Serum Institute of India's Covishield vaccine has proven to be effective against variants. Bharat Biotech has also claimed its vaccine, Covaxin, is effective against all variants. Six states accounted for 80.4 per cent of the daily deaths, with Maharashtra and Punjab each reporting 58 casualties. Kerala and Chhattisgarh followed with 12 deaths each.

Expressing concern over the COVID-19 situation, the chief minister urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to widen the vaccination ambit to cover those younger than 60 as the mutant has been found to be infecting young people more, an official statement quoting him said.

Amarinder Singh also appealed to people to get themselves vaccinated and stressed the need for the Central government to urgently open up vaccination for a larger section of the population. The process needs to be expedited," he said, pointing to the fact that experts had found the existing Covishield vaccine to be equally effective against the UK variant - B.1.1.7. It was essential to vaccinate more and more people to break the chain of transmission, he said.

India has barely managed to vaccinate 4.8 crore doses so far through 7,84,612 sessions, as per the provisional report till Tuesday 7 am. The first dose administration crossed 4 crore mark on Tuesday.

As on day 66 of the vaccination drive (March 22), more than 32 lakh vaccine doses were given. India's cumulative recoveries surged to 1,11,81,253, with 29,785 recoveries being registered in a span of 24 hours. Besides, 199 deaths were reported in a span of 24 hours.

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