COVID19 vaccination of children in the age group of 12 to 14 years will be started from tomorrow. Only Corbevax vaccine will be used for the beneficiaries of age group 12 to 13 and 13 to 14 years. Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan has written a letter to Chief Secretaries and administrators of all states and Union Territories. He said, precaution dose can now be provided to 60 plus and above. Prioritization and sequencing of this dose will be based on completion of 9 months from the date of 2nd dose. Vaccination of precaution dose should be with the same vaccine with which primary vaccination was done.
India’s National COVID Vaccination Program had begun with the vaccination of health care workers and frontline workers on 16th January last year. Mr Bhushan said, the National covid-19 vaccination program has covered 95.5 percent of the eligible population with at least one dose of covid-19 vaccine while more than 80 percent of the eligible beneficiaries are fully vaccinated. He said the mammoth task has been made possible with the active support from states and UTs.
Health Secretary said, the Vaccine will be administered to only those children who have attained the age of 12 years on the date of vaccination. The vaccinator and verifier will be responsible to ensure that any beneficiary aged less than 12 years on the date of vaccination is not vaccinated with special attention to those born in 2010. All beneficiaries who have attained age of 12 years will be able to register on CoWIN. The appointments can be booked online or onsite (walk-in) for 12 to 14 years.