Dispur, Jan 3: As part of the nationwide roll out of Covid vaccination for 15-18 year age group, Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma today launched the drive in Assam at Oil India HS School at Duliajan in Dibrugarh. Total 405 eligible school students would be provided the jabs in the camp organised by Dibrugarh District Administration and District Health Society, Dibrugarh in association with Oil India Limited.
Following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement, India began inoculation of the 15 to 18-year-old age group against Covid-19 from Monday amidst the spread of the Omicron variant and the surge in Covid-19 cases in the country.
Speaking at the programme, Chief Minister Dr. Sarma said that today marks another important point in the long battle against the dreaded virus while remarking that level of infection and fatality among the fully vaccinated people is less. Therefore, the state government is striving towards bringing all eligible people in the state under the ambit of vaccination. Till now, 3,76,80,000 people are provided the jab in Assam and among them, 2,17,36,397 have received the first dose. One lakh people are yet to get the first dose of vaccine in the state and out of them, 70 thousand are from Karbi Anglong and West Karbi Anglong districts alone, he informed.
“We are going to start rolling out a precautionary third dose of Covid vaccine for the frontline workers from January 10. Similarly all senior citizens having co-morbidity and who have completed 9 months from their second dose, will also get the third dose from January 10. We are also planning to complete both doses of vaccination for 15-18 age group within a short period with Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin so that they can confidently appear in their upcoming final exams” he said.
Union MoS for Petroleum & Natural Gas Rameswar Teli, Agriculture Minister Atul Bora, Power Minister Bimal Bora, Tea Tribes Welfare Dept Minister Sanjay Kishan and Duliajan MLA Teras Gowala were also present during the programme.