VACCINATION NOT A CONDITION FOR REOPENING SCHOOLS: V.K. PAUL

NEW DELHI: Vaccinating children is not a condition for reopening schools, Member-Health of NITI Aayog, V.K. Paul said on Thursday. Responding to a question during a press briefing on the threat of children getting infected due to Covid-19 as schools have started reopening, Paul said “Vaccinating children is not a condition for reopening schools. This criterion is not acceptable anywhere in the world, no scientific body, epidemiological evidence suggests it as a condition…However, vaccination of staff is desirable”. To a question on the availability of Covid-19 vaccines by Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines in India which have received emergency use authorisation, Paul said, “The EUA status is well-known for both Moderna and Johnson and Johnson. That option is open.” “About their import or deployment from local production of Johnson and Johnson, there are issues around which we still have to find a common ground with respect to manufacturers and we are working in that direction,” he said.

He said that the one dose of Covid-19 vaccination prevents chances of death to 95% and that 58% of the population of the country above 18 years had been given the first dose.