From Bhupen Goswami
GUWAHATI : With the advent of the South African Covid-19 edition called “Omicron” by who in many countries around the world, the Assam government on November 27 announced a massive vaccination drive to achieve 100 per cent vaccination target in the state. Addressing the press, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the campaign will be launched on November 29 and a deadline of December 5 has been fixed for achieving the target of 100 per cent first dose vaccination in the state. In view of the new Covid-19 variant, the Assam government has set a target of 100 per cent vaccination, even as the country is safe from this new version so far,” Sarma said, saying the state administration will go to every village and verify whether 100 per cent vaccination has been completed or not.
In Assam, 2.104 crore people have been vaccinated for the first dose so far. He said, “The remaining 3 lakh people also need to be informed about it. “If successful, Assam will be one of the north-eastern states which will be vaccinated 100 per cent with the first dose.Let’s say 1.15 crore people have received the second dose (50 per cent) of the vaccine. Reiterating that vaccine is very important to combat the virus, Sarma stressed on intensifying the vaccination campaign. Under this new vaccination drive, vaccination will be carried out in all the 28,200 polling stations in the state. Gazetted officers will visit homes under their booths to ensure that each adult is vaccinated with the first dose, informed the Chief Minister.
Sarma further said that he will supervise the campaign and all other ministers, MLAs and MPs will also visit polling stations in their respective constituencies as part of the campaign. This new variant (omicron) is 300 times stronger than delta variants. Our Prime Minister has reviewed the situation and screening of passengers from affected countries will be intensified. In such a situation, people have to be on alert. This is a global health warning, he said.In particular, the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared Omicron as a “version of concern” that could increase the risk of infection again. On Friday, the Central Government asked principal health secretaries of all state governments to ensure “rigorous screening and testing” of all international travellers landing in India from “at-risk” countries including Hong Kong, Israel, the UK, South Africa, Brazil, Bangladesh and Botswana.
