India will begin the COVID-19 vaccinations for children of 15-18 years old from today. India has been seeing a rapid increase in the number of Omicron cases in the past few days. The vaccination drive will bring some sort of reassurance to people.
Over 6 lakh children have been registered for vaccination on the CoWin website. The online registration began on January 1, 2022, and over 3 lakh children were registered on the first day. There are around 7.40 crore children in the age group of 15-18 years old but the registrations were not adding up to that number. Official sources have reported that the parents are over-cautious about the children getting the vaccine because the vaccinated people are still getting infected with the virus. These trends are not limited to India only.
The children in this age group will be eligible for the indigenously-developed Covaxin manufactured by Bharat Biotech. These children will be administered two doses of the Covaxin within a gap period of 28 days.
All the states will adhere to the guidelines issued by the Union Health Ministry. Mansukh Mandaviya, the Union Health Minister has advised all the states and the union territories for the provision of separate vaccination centers, sites, and different teams of vaccination for the children to avoid a potential mix-up.
Most schools and other educational institutions will be used for the vaccination centers of the children. People born in 2007 and before will be eligible for the administration of the Covaxin vaccine as of now. The vaccination for this age group was announced on December 25 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Because the schools and colleges have opened, a lot of children have been infected with the virus. Many outbreaks were reported from the residential schools and colleges.
The additional third dose of vaccine for the health workers, frontline workers, and senior citizens with comorbidities will be administered from January 10. Although the government is yet to decide on the booster doses for all. The two new vaccines, manufactured in India, were given approval by the government a few days ago. Corbevax and Covovax might be used as the booster doses and can also be used for children as well but there is no confirmation from the government officials as of now.
The risks posed by the steadily increasing Omicron variant of the COVID have pushed the government to approve the vaccination of children of 15-18 years. The Omicron has swept off most western countries including Europe and the United States. Omicron has also managed to replace the Delta variant all over the world as it is three times more transmissible than the Delta.
The government gave its nod on the basis of scientific assessment. Hopefully, the vaccination will gradually increase because the only way the virus can be dealt with is now preventive measures and vaccinations.
