Expanding the scope of the children’s immunization campaign, the government may start immunization of 12-14 year olds from the end of February, said Dr NK Arora, Chairman, COVID-19 Working Group, National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization. Times of India (TOI).
So far, in the ongoing vaccination campaign for adolescents, a total of 3.31 crore children in the age group of 15 to 17 years have received their first dose. In this campaign which started from 3rd January this year, 45% children of this age group have been covered within 13 days.
Dr Arora told TOI that, “Our target is to cover all 7.4 crore adolescents in the 15-17 age group with the first dose by the end of January so that we can start immunization with the second dose from the beginning of February and the second dose. By the end of February. We want to start immunization of children aged 12 to 14 by the end of February or the beginning of March.”
Experts elaborated that children aged 12 to 17 years are very much like adults, therefore, the decision was taken primarily to protect adolescents in the first 15-17 group. “Once they are fully immunized, the government will take a policy decision to include the next age group, which is 12-14,” Arora said.
Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, which is being administered to the country’s adolescents (group 15-17), has the center’s emergency use approval for children in the age group 2-17.
Due to the reportedly high mobility of adolescents- in schools, colleges, public transport, their vaccination becomes a priority to prevent further spread of fast-moving variants such as Omicron. This is the reason why the government gave priority to this group from the under-18 category, experts said.
Dr Pramod Jog, former national president of the Indian Academy of Pediatrics, told TOI, “The government should also consider prioritizing immunization of comorbid children in the age group 5-14 as they are also at high risk of developing severe COVID. ”
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