Hyderabad: IMA asks Health department to gear up for inoculating children

Hyderabad: Amid rising Covid infections among children and teenagers, the Telangana wing of Indian Medical Association (IMA) has urged the State Health Department to start preparations for inoculating those falling between the age group of 12 and 18 years.

It can be recalled that as per the State Health Department's latest data, 187 school and college going students have been affected with the novel coronavirus in just 17 days, from November 24 to December 7.

Speaking to The Hans India, Dr M Sampath Rao, president, IMA, Telangana State branch said, "In the recent days, a large number of Covid cases have been reported among children and there is also an increase in number of children getting admitted to hospitals after testing positive for Covid-19. The IMA has called for a speedy decision to be taken by the health authorities on the proposal to vaccinate children from 12 to 18 years of age."

Dr Rao further said that amid discovery of new variant, Omicron, the IMA has asked the government to provide booster doses for frontline workers and also expedite the process for inoculating children and teenagers.

He further added that the IMA had observed that in schools and colleges, maintaining physical distancing had become a challenging task with classrooms crowded with students, with most of them not wearing masks.

According to State Health department's data as on June 3, nearly 37,332 children in the 0-19 age group were infected with Covid-19 between March and May this year. In the previous year's first wave of Covid, 19,824 children were affected by the virus between August 18 and November 15, 2020.

However, in the recent 17 days from November 24 to December 7, multiple Covid-19 clusters have been detected in the State besides those at Mahindra University and a few government-run residential schools.

On November 29, as many as 42 students of Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Gurukul School in Muthangi village of Sangareddy district were tested positive for the virus. On November 28, 29 students of a government residential school and junior college for girls at Wyra town in Khammam district tested positive for the virus. On December 3, another cluster was found in a government residential school at Indresham village in Sangareddy where 48 students of a Gurukul school were found infected with coronavirus.