Amaravati, Dec 27 (PTI): Andhra Pradesh may need 75 lakh booster doses of COVID-19 vaccine for people, including those between 15-18 age group, a high level review meeting chaired by Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy was informed on Monday.

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The Chief Minister, in the meeting with health department officials on the COVID-19 situation in the state, directed them to be prepared to tackle any eventuality in the wake of the pandemic.

"The officials informed the Chief Minister that preliminary estimations revealed that 75 lakh booster doses are need for people including who are between 15-18 age group," an official release said.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently announced that India would start vaccinating children between the ages of 15 to 18 from January 3 next year while healthcare and frontline workers will be provided with "precautionary doses" from January 10.

During the review meeting, the Chief Minister said private hospitals, along with government hospitals, should be prepared to tackle any situation.

He instructed the officials to expedite the vaccination process by conducting a door to door drive and identify people who had not taken the jabs and administer vaccines to them.

The officials informed the CM that 98.96 percent of first dose and 71.76 percent of second dose of vaccination has been completed across the state and that Nellore, Vizianagaram, Prakasam, Anantapur, West Godavari, Kurnool and Chittor districts had recorded 100 per cent inoculations.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)