Expedite jabs for those aged between 18 & 45, FICCI urges govt

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) has urged the government to expedite the opening up of the Covid-19 vaccination drive to those between the ages of 18 years and 45 years as the bulk of the recent surge in cases came from this demographic.

In a letter to Union health and family welfare minister Harsh Vardhan, Ficci president Uday Shankar said this age group has been acting as superspreaders of the infection. “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 this age group to help subside the spread of infection as well as the severity of cases in the country,” said the letter dated April 2, a copy of which was seen by ET.

It cited a recent analysis in Tamil Nadu which showed that 51% of recent cases were from people in the age group of 18-45 years. The state had 18,606 active cases as of Saturday, according to official data.