7-day booster dose drive begins today

The government al set to launch a mass Covid vaccination campaign across the country from December 1 to 7 with a target to administer jabs, including booster doses, to some 90 lakh people.

“This campaign will end on December 7,” Dr Shamsul Haque, member secretary of the Covid-19 Vaccine Deployment Committee of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) told the media on Wednesday. “Around 90 lakh people will be vaccinated under this campaign, where 17,116 teams will provide the service,” he added.

Meanwhile, the National Immunization Technical Advisory Groups (NiTAG) has recommended administering the fourth dose of Covid vaccine to contain further spread of the virus, said Dr Shamsul Haque. NiTAG recommended bringing front liners, citizens aged above 60 and pregnant women under the fourth dose vaccination programme in the first phase, DGHS sources said.

So far, 87 per cent of the total population, including children, have received the first dose in the country, while 73 per cent received the second dose.