Vijayawada:  Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy decided to urge the Central Government to reduce the gap for administering precautionary dose of Covid -19 vaccine from the existing nine months to six months.

AP CM YS Jagan convened a Covid – 19 review meeting on Monday with Medical & Health officials and guided to initiate precautionary measure to curb the surge of Covid – 19 in the State. In the review meeting, CM opined that reducing the gap for precautionary or booster dose by three to four months, would benefit frontline workers and those who provide emergency services and also prevent many people from being hospitalized.

According to the official sources studying the prevailing Covid – 19 situations in the State, the chief minister directed the officials to focus on scaling up vaccination in five districts of East Godavari, Guntur, YSR Kadapa, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam, which have the lowest rate of second dose vaccination.

He said vaccination to the age group of 15-18 years has been completed 100 percent in Nellore and West Godavari, and it was 90 percent in other five districts and 80 percent in other four districts and directed the officials to expedite the vaccination process in Vizianagaram and Vishakhapatnam districts. He also reviewed on progress of construction works of new medical colleges.

State health department officials informed CM that they have arranged for 53,184 hospital beds for treating Covid patients. They said only 1,100 people were hospitalized out of 27,000 active cases and only 600 of them needed oxygen support. Jagan instructed the officials to make arrangements for availability of oxygen and medicines.

Deputy Chief Minister (Health) Alla Krishna Srinivas, chief secretary Sameer Sharma, principal health secretary Anil Kumar Singhal, principal health secretary — Covid management and vaccination Muddada Ravi Chandra, Finance Secretary N. Gulzar, and other officials were present in the review meeting.