Covid vaccination in the age bracket of 15 to 18 years started in the State today. In Ranchi, vaccination for children began at 29 centres in the State Capital. Out of 29 centres in Ranchi, 11 vaccination centres have been made in Ranchi while 18 centres have been set up in rural areas of the district. The vaccination process at these centres commenced after 9 am, with the district administration making full arrangements for vaccination. On the first day of vaccination, 17524 children were vaccinated across the State.
On the first day, children were seen enthusiastically with the vaccination process. At various places children reached the vaccination centre early in the morning. At Zila School Ground, some students were tense, but they were also excited about getting vaccines. Anmol Kumar, a student who received vaccines at Zila School said, “I was tensed about vaccination. But after getting vaccines I don’t have any problem. I will encourage others to get vaccines.”
Facility of online as well as offline registration has also been made for getting vaccines. Apart from Aadhar card, registration is also being done with school ID. Along with this, the declaration form is being filled from parents before vaccination. Children will be vaccinated only after filling the form or taking consent over the phone.
As children have been asked to come to school after having breakfast, school management too have made arrangements of biscuits and other snacks for children getting vaccines. A target has been set to vaccinate 200 children at one center in a day.
At schools children whose date of birth is between 2005-07 are vaccinated at schools, while those who are older are sent to other centres. The schools where vaccination centers have been set are Zila School, Marwari School, Gauridutta Mandaliya, DAV Hehal. Other vaccination centres are ATI Morhabadi, Rotary Club Club Road, Government Primary School New Sant Colony, Lodhama Road, St. Joseph School, Lowadih, St. Louis Primary School, Government Primary School, Bariatu, SPC Session Football Stadium. At the same time, public representatives and officials in rural areas are making children and their parents aware about vaccination drives.
In Jharkhand 23.98 lakh adolescents who are in the age group of 15-18 years will be vaccinated. In Ranchi around 2 lakh adolescents will be vaccinated, while in Khunti the number is 35,000. The process to administer coronavirus vaccines to children comes amid a rapid rise in infections fuelled by the Omicron variant.
The vaccine option for this age group would only be Bharat Biotech's Covaxin, according to guidelines issued by the Union health ministry on 27 December. The Drugs Controller General of India granted emergency use authorisation to indigenously-developed Bharat Biotech's Covaxin for children above 12 years with certain conditions on 24 December.
