The process to administer coronavirus vaccines to children comes amid a rapid rise in infections fuelled by the Omicron variant
Students flash the victory sign after being administered with COVID-19 vaccine in Lucknow. PTI
Health authorities across the country began vaccinating teenagers in the age group of 15-18 against COVID-19 on Monday.
The process to vaccinate children has commenced amid a rapid rise in coronavirus infections, particularly in the country’s densely populated cities, fuelled by the Omicron variant of the coronavirus .
According to official data, over eight lakh teens had registered for the vaccine on government’s CoWin portal ever since registrations began on Saturday.
Officials have said that as of 2 pm, over 16 lakh teenagers have received their first COVID-19 shots across the country.
Please see: India’s fight against COVID-19 enters new era as it begins vaccinations for teens aged between 15-18
The vaccine option for this age group would only be Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, according to guidelines issued by the Union health ministry on 27 December. The Drugs Controller General of India granted emergency use authorisation to indigenously-developed Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin for children above 12 years with certain conditions on 24 December.
In Delhi, where daily cases have registered a record surge in the last few days, officials said that vaccination centres at Fortis hospital, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, and other facilities began administering the jabs to the younger population.
Meanwhile, in Mumbai, news agency PTI reported that a girl student was the first to receive the vaccine dose at a jumbo COVID-19 centre in the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC), where the drive was virtually launched by Maharashtra Tourism and Environment Minister Aaditya Thackeray.
The vaccination of children will be carried out at nine jumbo COVID-19 centres, excluding Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Hospital at Byculla, where the children of only the railway staff will be administered the vaccine, the civic body had said in a release.
The city civic body also said that along with children from the BMC-run schools, vaccines will be given free of cost to children of other schools as well.
In neighbouring Pune, the vaccination campaign for children commenced at 40 centres on Monday, the city civic body’s chief immunisation officer Dr Suryakant Devkar said.
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya had earlier advised states and Union Territories to provide separate vaccination centres, session sites, queue and different vaccination teams for this age group to avoid the mixing-up of vaccines.
On Monday, he tweeted, “I thank Modi ji for giving our Young India the protection cover of Corona.”
He also provided glimpses of the COVID-19 drive across the nation and appealed to “young friends to get vaccinated at the earliest and further strengthen the world’s largest vaccination drive”.