Amaravati, April 24 : In a major development, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S.Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday offered free Covid vaccination for all people between the age group of 18 and 45 years.
More than 2 crore people in this age bracket are set to benefit with this move.
According to the state government, there are 2,04,70,364 in the 18-45 age category.Andhra Pradesh is already offering free vaccines to people above 45 years of age.
Reddy directed the concerned officials to order the required number of vaccine doses to meet this requirement.
The southern state will start inoculating people in this age bracket from May 1.
Meanwhile, Devulapalli Amar, Reddy’s national media advisor, said the state has vaccinated 50 lakh people already, including focusing on vaccinating each and every frontline worker in the next few days.
“The Chief Minister has already written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking at least 60 lakh doses of vaccine as early as possible.Unlike in other states, oxygen supplies in Andhra Pradesh are satisfactory,” noted Amar.
He highlighted that the state is also chipping in to help the other states with oxygen.
According to Amar, Andhra Pradesh has sent 300 ventilators to Maharashtra, prompting Union minister Nitin Gadkari to personally call and thank Reddy for the gesture.
Amar said the southern state has been at the forefront in aggressively testing people for the virus, propelling it to test nearly 1.6 crore people
.
