More than 2.6 lakh adolescents in this age group received the first dose of the COVID vaccine on the first day as India began vaccination for children in the age group of 12 to 14 years on Wednesday.
New Delhi: More than 2.6 lakh adolescents in this age group received the first dose of the COVID vaccine on the first day as India began vaccination for children in the age group of 12 to 14 years on Wednesday. The COVID-19 vaccination for this age group started when the country celebrated National Immunization Day. Meanwhile, health workers, frontline workers and beneficiaries above 60 years of age were identified and put in place as a precautionary measure. So far, more than 2.15 crore people have been given precautionary doses.
The number of daily vaccinations is expected to increase with the compilation of the final report by late Wednesday, the health ministry said in a statement. It may be noted that the beneficiaries of this age group are being vaccinated only with the Corbevax vaccine developed by Hyderabad-based Biologicals-E. The central government has asked states to organize dedicated COVID-19 vaccination sessions at designated centres and to train vaccinated health workers so that the mixing of vaccines can be avoided during the vaccination of children.
Let us inform that the Center has clearly told all the states that children below the age of 12 years cannot be included in the vaccination. Before giving the vaccine, it will be the responsibility of the Chief Officer of the said centre to vaccinate the child only after checking the age-related document. Their age should be between 12 to 14 years as of March 2022.
Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said, “There is a need to train the vaccinators and the vaccination team to ensure that there is no mixing of vaccines during the vaccination of children aged 12 to 14 years.” He has asked the states to set up special immunization centres where only children of this age are given vaccine doses.