COVID-19 cases on Rise: India opens Vaccination for 15-18 Age Group

India on Monday reported 33,750 fresh COVID-19 cases with1700 Omicron variant. Amid a heavy surge in COVID-19 cases in the country, vaccination for teens in the 15 to 18 age group began from today. According to the latest reports, over 8 lakh teens have registered in the government's CoWin portal for their COVID-19 vaccination. The Union Health Ministry had announced that Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin will be administered to eligible children — in two doses 28 days. 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 December 24.

The registration for this category of beneficiaries opened on Saturday. According to the guidelines, they can self-register online through an existing account on CoWIN or can also register by creating a new account through a unique mobile number as is the case with all other categories of beneficiaries.With the reopening of the schools and educational institutions, experts are predicting that a great number of students falling in the age bracket of 15-18 have a high chance of catching the infection.

According to the Union Ministry of Health, the Omicron tally in the country has reached 1,700, of which 639 have recovered or been discharged. Maharashtra topped the count with 510 Omicron cases, followed by Delhi with 351 cases.

Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare on Sunday virtually interacted with State Health Ministers and Principal Secretaries/ Additional Chief Secretaries of States/UTs to review the Public Health Preparedness to COVID19 and progress of National COVID19 vaccination campaign. The meeting was held in view of the rising cases of the Omicron variant and the recent decisions to roll-out vaccination for the age group 15-18 years and precautionary dose for identified vulnerable categories.

Underscoring the critical importance of vaccination drive, the Minister observed, “We must focus on planning with regard to the 15-18 age group vaccination and precautionary doses for eligible beneficiaries”. Dr Mansukh Mandaviya also urged states to ensure that the healthcare workers and frontline workers are fully vaccinated, as they form the vulnerable categories.

 

Stressing on the need to ensure smooth implementation of new vaccination guidelines, States/UTs were advised to ensure the orientation of vaccinators and vaccination team members for vaccination of 15-18 years age-group and the identification of dedicated session sites for vaccination of 15-18 years age-group. To avoid the mixing-up of vaccines during administration, separate CVCs, separate session sites, separate queue (if at same session where adult vaccination is ongoing) and separate vaccination team (if at same session site) are to be strived for. States/UTs were also advised to share their requirement of vaccine doses through district wise estimation of beneficiaries using Co-WIN. They were urged to plan for distribution of Covaxin to identified session sites well in advance and publish sessions for at least 15 days to provide sufficient visibility.