oppn parties Welcome Decision On Jabs For Children And Booster Dose

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  • Supreme Court questions the continuing relevance of two-child norms. The Court observed that falling fertility rates have weakened the population-control rationale behind laws disqualifying people with more than two children from contesting local body elections. It referred the issue to a larger Bench for consideration
  • Supreme Court declines to shift Tirupati laddu case outside Andhra Pradesh. The Court rejected a plea seeking transfer of the trial, despite arguments that political statements by Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister could affect the fairness of proceedings
  • Supreme Court transfers Azam Khan's fresh ED bail plea to Allahabad High Court. The apex court declined to consider the Samajwadi Party leader's bail request in a fresh Enforcement Directorate case and directed that it be listed before a division Bench of the High Court on November 16
  • Two killed in Delhi building collapse; contractor booked. Two bodies were recovered after a building collapsed in Chawri Bazaar. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the contractor had been booked and the concerned junior and assistant engineers suspended
  • Uttar Pradesh voter rolls show a 2.4-crore discrepancy. A difference of approximately 2.4 crore names has been reported between the state's panchayat and rural Assembly voter lists. The Election Commission has ordered the two sets of rolls to be matched
  • Gujarat announces 3% dearness allowance hike. The state government announced a three-percentage-point increase in dearness allowance for government employees and pensioners ahead of Diwali
  • Sensex and Nifty post their strongest single-day gains in months. The Sensex surged 2,008.61 points, or 2.60%, to close at 79,310.01, while the Nifty 50 climbed 576 points, or 2.40%, to 24,536.60. Financial and automobile stocks led the rally, supported by falling crude prices and renewed foreign investor buying
  • Maaya Rajeshwaran reaches WTA-level quarter-final. The 17-year-old Indian defeated Poland's Weronika Falkowska 6-4, 6-3, becoming the first Indian woman since Sania Mirza in 2012 to reach a quarter-final at a WTA Tour-level singles event
  • Tanvi Patri reaches Youth Olympics badminton final. The 15-year-old defeated Japan's Yuzuno Watanabe in the semi-final, assuring India of a medal and becoming the first Indian badminton player to reach the girls' singles final at the Youth Olympics
  • India beat Pakistan 3-2 in SAFF Championship. India defeated Pakistan in a closely contested match, having led 3-0 before conceding two late goals. The victory was reported as a significant result for India's second-string side
  • India beat Japan 4-1 to win a record sixth Asian Champions Trophy. India recovered from an early deficit to defeat Japan in the final at Mohali, extending its record as the tournament's most successful men's team
  • The Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission on a petition challenging Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which grants the CEC and Election Commissioners protection from legal proceedings for acts performed in their official duties. The petition argues that such blanket immunity could leave citizens without an effective remedy for alleged wrongdoing by the Commission
  • The Supreme Court told voters whose names were deleted from Delhi's draft electoral rolls not to be apprehensive about seeking re-enrolment through Form 6, after the Election Commission assured it that such applicants would not be prosecuted merely because their names had appeared in earlier rolls
  • Congress leader Rahul Gandhi opened the party's campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections with an Insaaf rally in Sangrur, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's home district, accusing the AAP government of failing to control drugs, gangster violence and corruption. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge outlined six commitments, including a drug-free Punjab, protection of farmers, employment for young people and action against corruption
  • Rahul Gandhi accused the AAP government of running Punjab through a remote control from Delhi and questioned Bhagwant Mann's ability to tackle drug abuse, making personal allegations about the Chief Minister's conduct during their time together in Parliament
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Welcome Decision On Jabs For Children And Booster Dose

By Linus Garg
First publised on 2021-12-26 06:55:14

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.

In his address to the nation on Christmas Day, Prime Minister Modi expanded the scope of the vaccination drive by including children between 15 to 18 years and also announced that frontline and healthcare workers and senior citizens with comorbidities will be given a booster dose from January 2022. Modi also urged the citizens not to let their guard down and follow Covid protocols, especially using the mask, religiously to prevent the third wave. The Prime Minister emphasized that while there was no need to panic, there was a need to remain vigilant, careful, cautious and informed.

It is good that the vaccination age has been lowered. With schools reopening all over India from Class IX onwards, the need to vaccinate children in the age group of 15 to 18 was urgent. Once they are included in the vaccination drive and a good number of them get the first dose, the age should be further lowered to 12 and more classes should be reopened, depending on the way Omicron pans out. The education system has suffered a lot in the last two years and it has taken a toll on the mental health of children. We need to restore normalcy, conditions permitting, as soon as possible and vaccinating children is a major step towards that.

As for the booster dose, India has been prevaricating for long even as the rest of the world has gone ahead with it. Hence, it is good that the government has decided to give booster doses to frontline and healthcare workers and senior citizens. With all studies indicating that vaccine efficacy wanes in 6 months and with the Omicron scare looming large, a booster dose is needed. Some months from now, the third dose must be made open for all.

But at the same time, the government must ensure that vaccines are available in sufficient numbers. A couple of weeks back, Serum Institute had indicated that it would be forced to cut down on Covishield production as government orders were not forthcoming. Since India will need vaccines in large numbers in the next few months to jab kids and give booster doses to those already fully vaccinated, the government must place pre-orders and ensure full production. Funds should not be a problem as the government has spent only Rs 19675cr (till November 2021) out of the Rs 35000cr it had earmarked for the purpose. 

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