Vaccination For Children Aged 12-14 Years May Begin In March: Report

After targeting the age bracket of 15-17 years, government is now looking forward to the vaccination for children aged 12-14 years. The vaccination drive for this age group is likely to start in the month of March, said NK Arora, National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTGAI) chief. According to reports, around 45 per cent of the children in the age group 15-17 years have been vaccinated by January 16, 2022.

The government is looking forward to start the vaccination for children aged 12-14 years from March, as told by NK Arora, Chairman of the NTAGI. The vaccination drive for the age group 15-17 years started on January 3 and according to reports, 45 per cent of the demographic has been jabbed. The vaccination for the teens within 15-17 years with second dose is likely to begin in February.

“We aim to cover all the 7.4 crore adolescents in the 15-17 age bracket with the first dose by January-end so that we can start vaccinating them with the second dose from early February and finish the second dose by February-end. We want to start vaccinating children between 12 and 14 years from February-end or early March.” Dr. NK Arora told Time of India.

The COVID-19 vaccination drive for the adolescents has been showing impressive numbers. Over 50 lakh children were registered to receive their first dose and over 40 lakh teens were been jabbed on the first day of vaccination. The Union Health Ministry announced on December 27 that these children will be vaccinated with Covaxin doses only which has been manufactured by Bharat Biotech.

Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin has been approved for emergency use for children aged from 2-17 years as the vaccine has been found safe and effective for them in the trials.

The cases of COVID-19 have been on the rise in India since December 2021 when the Omicron variant of the virus was detected in some cases. As of today, 2,58,089 daily cases in the last 24 hours were reported.