Amaravati: The Andhra Pradesh government has decided to prioritise vaccination of women who have children younger than five years of age in the wake of predictions of a third wave of COVID-19 that is likely to affect children. The decision was made during a Covid review meeting where Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy observed that in case children get infected with coronavirus, their mothers should also stay at hospitals.
Addressing a press conference, Health, Medical, and Family Welfare Principal Secretary Anil Kumar Singhal said, “the state government has decided to inoculate mothers with kids under the age of 5 years. There are almost 20 lakh such mothers, they will be inoculated along with those aged 45 plus years.”
Mr Singhal further said that 11% of the State’s population comprises children and adolescents aged below 20. Of them, 2.72% are in the age group of 0-10 years and 8.35% are in the age group of 11-20 years. Similarly, 20.28% of the State’s population are in the 21-30 year age group while 21.29% of the population is in the age group of 31-40.
He informed that the paediatric infrastructure was being augmented across the State in order to be prepared for the likelihood of a third wave, during which children would be most vulnerable. He said, “More than 600 private hospitals have been permitted to treat COVID-19. Keeping the third wave in mind, chances of treatment of paediatric cases, special paediatric wards, and other basic infrastructure in those private hospitals should be considered.”
Singhal stated that the chief minister has directed the construction of three paediatrics multi-speciality hospitals – one in Visakhapatnam, two in Vijayawada or Guntur and three in Tirupati.
All District Collectors were asked to make arrangements to vaccinate women who are mothers of young children. 600 private hospitals were permitted to vaccinate them, informed Singhal.
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