Covid-19 vaccination for 12-14 age group to start from March 16
The Union Health Ministry on Monday announced expansion of the Covid-19 vaccination programme by including 12-14-year-old population and doing away with “co-morbidity” condition for administering the precautionary third dose for the senior citizens.
The 12-14-year-old group – majority of them being school children – will start getting the shot from Wednesday (March 16). The vaccine of choice for them would be Corbevax, manufactured by Bio-E, Hyderabad.
“After due deliberations with scientific bodies, the Union Government has decided to start Covid-19 vaccination for 12-13 years and 13-14 years age groups from March 16,” the ministry said in a statement. Children born in 2008, 2009 and 2010 are eligible.
The announcement comes weeks before the beginning of a new academic year with the states opening up schools. Multiple surveys have demonstrated loss of learning for children in the past two years when schools resorted to online teaching due to the pandemic.
Health ministry sources said 7.11 crore children between 12-14 years would be eligible for the jabs. They are in addition to 7.4 crore adolescents in the 15-18 age group who are currently getting two doses of Covaxin.
The announcement comes four days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviewed the Covid-19 situation with top officials who updated the Prime Minister on India’s vaccination progress and presented an analysis on how the vaccination campaign led to lower hospital stay, less severe disease and reduced Covid mortality.
The Central Drug Standards Control Organisation last month granted emergency use authorisation to Corbevax for the 12-18 years age group.
Developed in partnership with Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine, Corbevax is more than 90 per cent effective against Wuhan strain and more than 80 per cent efficacious to prevent symptomatic infections. The vaccine also generated 50 per cent less adverse effects when compared against Covishield, the Texas Children’s Hospital said in a statement.
The ministry has also decided to do away with the condition of co-morbidity for Covid-19 precaution dose for population above 60 years of age. From March 16, the entire 13.75 crore population above 60 years of age will be eligible for precautionary dose of Covid-19 vaccine.
“While broad basing the criteria for vaccination is a welcome step, vaccination alone as a strategy will be insufficient. Enhancing public health infrastructure and laboratory surveillance will be critical to detect transmission early and respond effectively,” Oommen John, a senior public health researcher at the George Institute for Global Health told DH.
Nearly 84 per cent of India’s 94.47 crore of estimated adult population is fully vaccinated, whereas more than 92 per cent received a single shot.
Among the 7.4 crore of estimated 15-18 years age group, close to 50 per cent are fully vaccinated, while 5.6 crore received at least a single shot.
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