India Starts Vaccinating 12-14 Age Group, Boosters For All Above 60
India has started vaccinating children aged 12 to 14 years from today as it expands its COVID-19 vaccination coverage.
Starting today the condition of co-morbidity for people aged 60 and above to get a precautionary dose has also been removed, and now everyone above the age of 60 can now take booster shots.
The COVID-19 vaccine to be administered to those in the 12-14 age group would be Corbevax, which is manufactured by Biological Evans, Hyderabad.
Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan had earlier stated that only Corbevax vaccine would be used for the beneficiaries in the age group of 12 to 14 years.
Corbevax has become the third vaccine against COVID-19 in India and will be available at all centres where free vaccination is available.
on Tuesday, the Centre had released guidelines for COVID-19 vaccination of children between 12-14 years. Two doses of Biological E’s intramuscular vaccine Corbevax would be administered at an interval of 28 days, the guidelines said.
Beneficiaries between 14-15 years have already been covered during the vaccination for 15-18 years’ age group, the Centre said on Tuesday.
According to the guidelines, as of March 1, 2021 there are as many as 4.7 crore children aged 12 and 13 years in the country.
According to the guidelines, all beneficiaries born in 2010 or earlier – those who have already attained the age of 12 years – will be able to register on CoWIN.
For those above the age of 60, the guidelines state that a precaution dose can now be provided on completion of nine months – 39 weeks from the date of administration of the second dose. The guidelines also stated that the vaccination of precaution dose should be with the same vaccine with which primary vaccination was done.
The registration can be done through the following modes – self-registration through an existing account on Co-WIN of a family member or by creating a new account through a unique mobile number (this facility is available for all eligible citizens presently), the guidelines stated.
It can also be done through onsite registration by the vaccinator in facilitated registration mode and appointments can be booked online or onsite (walk-in) for 12-14 years.
The guidelines further stated that all citizen irrespective of their income status are entitled to free COVID-19 vaccination at government Covid centres.