Nagpur: Amid the Omicron scare in Maharashtra, cabinet minister Aaditya Thackeray has urged the Centre to allow booster shots of the Covid-19 vaccine and reduce the existing gap between two doses of the vials.
In a letter to union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya, Thackeray suggested the Centre reduce the Covid-19 vaccine gap from existing eight weeks to four weeks due to the Omicron variant scare. He also suggested that the vaccine cut-off age for inoculation should be brought down to 15.
“I’ve written to Health Minister GoI Mansukh Mandviya ji, a few suggestions that have come from various interactions with doctors and those closely observing the covid situation closely, so that we can protect our citizens in the light of newly emerging variants,” junior Thackeray tweeted.
Thackeray in the letter added that all front-line workers and health care workers, who were the first one to receive Covid-19 shots when vaccinations started should be allowed a third shot at ‘their studied desire.’
“By reducing the minimum age for vaccination to 15 will enable us to cover secondary schools as well as junior colleges with the protection of vaccines,” he said. Over 73 per cnet of the population in Mumbai have received the second vaccine shot till now.
“If the gap between two doses is reduced to four weeks, just like for those applying to work or study abroad, the city will cover 100% of its population with the second dose by mid-January 2022,” the cabinet minister said.
