‘Experts to take a call on booster dose, jabs for kids’

New Delhi: A decision on booster dose and Covid jabs for children will be taken on the basis of scientific guidance from experts, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Friday even as India stepped up surveillance for Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

Replying to an 11-hourlong debate on the COVID-19 pandemic in Lok Sabha, M a n d av i ya said RT-PCR tests h ave been conducted on more than 16,000 passengers who arrived on 58 flights from “at-risk” countries, of whom 18 have tested positive for COVID-19.

The minister said the swab samples of these 18 passengers have been sent for genome sequencing to screen for the Omicron variant of the virus.

During the debate on Thursday, several members had flagged the issue of booster doses of COVID-19 vaccines and had expressed concern over the new variant of the virus, two cases of which were detected in the country. “The question is not about economics or politics. The question about booster dose and vaccines for kids will be decided by our team of experts. We will follow the scientific guidance we get from our experts,” Mandaviya said.

Mandaviya hit out at the opposition for playing politics over ventilators, which were funded through the PM-CARES Fund , a n d hailed the leadership of PM Narendra Modi during the testing times. He said orders were placed for the supply of 58,000 ventilators, mostly with public sector companies, and 50,200 breathing machines had been delivered to states and 48,000 have been installed at various hospitals. Besides ventilators, the government also ensured availability of Covid protocol medicines across the country to ensure that the states did not appear wanting in the fight against the pandemic. -(PTI)