India Inc. urges Govt to open vaccination for 18-45 year age group

As the number of Covid-19 cases has been rising, industry representatives have urged the Government to extend the Covid-19 vaccination programme for the 18-45 years age group.

New Delhi:In a bid to check the rising number of fresh Covid-19 infections across the country, India Inc. has urged the Government to open vaccination for the age group 18-45 years.

The industry feels the move will not only save the lives of citizens, but will also safeguard India’s nascent economic recovery.

In a letter written to the Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, FICCI President Uday Shankar said “Given that there is no shortage of vaccines and there is a huge scope of augmenting inoculation capacity through greater involvement of private sector, we urge you to open up vaccination for the age group (18-45) to help subside the spread of infection as well as the severity of cases in the country.”

Shankar assured the Government that the Industry will extend complete support to achieve the desired testing capacity.

"We are currently testing about 11 lakh samples a day, while we had reached the level of testing 15 lakh samples a day in January. Further, there is the capacity of performing much more tests with 2,440 labs in the country operational for COVID testing, including more than 1,200 from the private sector," he said.

Echoing his views, the Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (FADA) has also appealed to the Government to extend the ongoing vaccination programme to all above 18 years of age.

“There is fear in everybody as Covid-19 cases are increasing. It is important to extend the vaccination to the 18-45 age group as India is a young country in terms of average age and more than 70 per cent of our workforce is in this age bracket,” Vinkesh Gulati, President, FADA told ETV Bharat.

According to the Health Ministry, the country has added 89,129 cases on Saturday, the most in a day since September 20, 2020, taking its active Covid-19 caseload to 6.58 lakh.

The Government has made all those above the age of 45 years eligible for vaccination starting from April 1. Earlier, people aged above 60 years and those above 45 years with comorbidities were allowed for Covid-19 vaccination.

Meanwhile, surveys have revealed that vaccine hesitancy has been coming down due to the growing number of cases.

According to a survey by online community platform LocalCircles, vaccine hesitancy has dropped to its lowest partly due to leaders like the Prime Minister and state leaders taking the vaccine as well as the sudden rise in the number of cases to nearly 90,000 per day.

“Percentage of citizens willing to take the COVID-19 vaccine has gone up, from 38% in the second week of January to 77% now,” LocalCircles said in its latest statement.

Interestingly, the platform also pointed out that citizens were also in favour of opening up Covid-19 vaccination for all above 18 years of age and people were also ready to pay a premium for the service.

“In LocalCircles survey conducted last week, 75% citizens supported opening vaccination for this age-group (18-45 years) in after-hours at private hospitals and labs, for a slightly higher charge such that the regular vaccination drive is not disrupted,” said the release.

(With Agency Inputs)