Vaccination for 12-14 Age Group may Begin in March
NEW DELHI, Jan 17: Covid-19 vaccination of children in the age group of 12 to 14 is finally expected to begin in the first week of March.
Top government officials on Monday hinted to this effect pointing out that by that time the vaccination of the now on-going 15-18 age group would be completed. A policy decision is expected to be taken to this effect, the officials said.
Dr NK Arora, chairman of the Covid-19 working group of NTAGI, said, of the estimated 7.4 crore (7,40,57,000) population in the 15-18 age group, over 3.45 crore have received their first dose of Covaxin so far with the second one due in 28 days.
Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya shared on Twitter earlier in the day that over 3.5 crore children in the 15-18 age group have received their first dose since January 3 when the drive was expanded to include the young adults.
“Adolescents in this age group have been actively participating in the inoculation process, and going by this pace of vaccination, the rest of the beneficiaries in the 15-18 age group are likely to be covered with the first dose by January-end and subsequently their second dose is expected to be done by February-end,” Dr Arora said.
(Manas Dasgupta)
