Over 37 lakh teenagers between 15 and 18 received their first Covid shots, Covaxin, on the first day of the special vaccination drive for children launched across the country from Monday morning, amid clear signs of the beginning of a fresh Covid-19 wave in the country fueled by the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
Most of the schools and other educational institutions are being used as inoculation centres for those between 15-18 years. The Government has advised States to make separate Covid vaccination centres (CVCs) for children and adults to avoid mixing of vaccines.
Those born in 2007 and before are eligible for the vaccine. As per the data available on CoWIN portal, more than 39.88 lakh beneficiaries, aged 15 to 18 years, registered themselves on the website till Monday afternoon.
Around 7.5 crore children of this age bracket will be vaccinated across the nation under the drive.
Earlier, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya had tweeted, “Great to see that our young friends all over the country are uploading their pictures of getting vaccinated, inspiring people all over India”.
In another tweet, he urged this age bracket to get vaccinated at the earliest and further strengthen the world’s largest vaccination drive.
Mandaviya had visited the vaccination centre at Ram Manohar Lohia hospital in the national Capital and enquired about the process.
As of now, only Bharat Biotech’s indigenously-made Covaxin will be available for vaccinating this age bracket. According to the Union Health Ministry, all States and Union Territories will get additional doses of vaccines for administering to this population category.
On December 25, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that vaccination for the 15-18-year age group will begin from January 3.
Meanwhile, the administration of the third dose of vaccine for health workers, frontline workers, and vulnerable senior citizens will begin from January 10.
The clearance from the Government came amid a threat of growing cases of Omicron, the highly infectious variant that is sweeping Europe and the US, replacing Delta as the dominant strain.
Since schools and colleges have opened earlier this year, a substantial section of children and teens have contracted the virus. Several outbreaks have been reported from residential schools and college hostels. The Government is yet to take a decision on the booster dose for all.