India has started immunization of children of 12 to 14 years from today.
new Delhi:
India has started immunizing children aged 12 to 14 from today as it expands its COVID-19 vaccination coverage.
From today the co-morbidity condition has also been removed for people aged 60 years and above to take the precautionary dose, and now everyone above the age of 60 years can take the booster shot.
The COVID-19 vaccine to be given to people in the age group of 12-14 will be Corbevax, manufactured by Biological Evans, Hyderabad.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted this morning urging all eligible people to get vaccinated.
Today marks a significant day in India’s efforts to vaccinate its citizens. Now, youth in the age group 12-14 are eligible for the vaccine and all those above 60 are eligible for the precautionary dose. I urge people in these age groups to get vaccinated.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) 16 March 2022
Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan had earlier said that only the Corbevax vaccine would be used for beneficiaries in the age group of 12 to 14 years.
Corbevax has become the third vaccine against COVID-19 in India and will be available at all centers where free vaccination is available.
On Tuesday, the Center had issued guidelines for COVID-19 vaccination of children between 12-14 years. The guidelines state that two doses of Corbevax, an intramuscular vaccine of biological E, will be given at an interval of 28 days.
The Center on Tuesday said that beneficiaries between 14-15 years have already been covered while immunization of the age group of 15-18 years.
As per the guidelines, there are 4.7 crore children in the age group of 12 and 13 in the country as of March 1, 2021.
As per the guidelines, all beneficiaries born in 2010 or earlier – who have already attained the age of 12 years – will be able to register on CoWIN.
For people over the age of 60, the guidelines suggest that a precautionary dose can now be provided at the end of nine months – 39 weeks from the date of administration of the second dose. The guidelines also state that the precautionary dose should be immunized with the same vaccine from which the primary vaccination was done.
Registration can be done through the following modes – self registration through existing account on co-win of a family member or by creating a new account through a unique mobile number (this facility is currently available to all eligible citizens) is), the guidelines stated.
This facility can also be done through onsite registration by the vaccinator in registration mode and appointments can be booked online or onsite (walk-in) for 12-14 years.
The guidelines further state that all citizens irrespective of their income status are entitled to free COVID-19 vaccination at government COVID centres.