Hyderabad: The vaccine administration push for children aged 15 to 18 years old, which is set to begin on January 3 next year, will first take place at major government facilities located in corporations and district headquarters, where physicians and other senior healthcare staff are available to observe.

The Directorate of Family Health and Public Welfare, Telangana, will open online bookings through the COWIN portal, from January 3, for the vaccination of children aged between 15 to 18 years, in all Municipal corporation areas.

Telangana health minister T Harish Rao said in a media conference on December 28, that there will be no vaccination administration for minors in government healthcare institutions when doctors are not available. Children born in 2007 or before are eligible for vaccination. According to our figures, there are 22.78 lakh youngsters aged 15 to 18 in Telangana.

The Telangana state government will also request that the ministry of health and family welfare (MoHFW) give permission to administer booster shots to all seniors above the age of 60. “At the moment, MOHFW recommendations to state is that anyone over the age of 60 years of age and with co-morbidities is eligible to get ‘precautionary dose’.”

However, there is a need to vaccinate everyone above the age of 60, and we will write a letter to the MoHFW regarding this, he remarked.

Rao also announced that frontline workers eligible for booster shots include municipal sanitation staff, press persons, and other groups at risk. All health care workers and police personnel are also eligible.

Telangana would require around 70 lakh doses of COVID-19 vaccinations to complete the immunization for children aged 15 to 18 and those over the age of 60. “I strongly encourage people to be vaccinated in huge numbers.” “We have around 30 lakh Covid doses in buffer stock, and Telangana has no lack of vaccinations,” Harish Rao claimed.

Indications of community spread of Omicron in Telangana: Harish Rao

Telangana health minister T Harish Rao on Tuesday said that there have been indications of community spread of the Omicron variant in the state.

“Three individuals without any travel history, have been infected with Omicron,” he added. The three infected patients from Hyderbad belong to different backgrounds.

A dialysis technician from a private hospital, a pregnant lady, and a software employee, have been found positive with the variant of the COVID-19 virus.

Out of the 62 people who tested positive for the Omicron variant, 46 have been fully vaccinated, 2 partially, and while 14 have not received a single dose of the vaccine.