Coronavirus vaccination for children aged 15 to 18 years will begin today

Coronavirus vaccination for children between 15 to 18 years of age will begin from Monday amid a surge of cases in India driven by the Omicron variant.

India’s Omicron variant tally on Sunday reached 1,525. The country recorded 27,553 new Covid-19 cases – a jump of 297% from last week. With 284 deaths, the toll rose to 4,81,770.

On December 25, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced that the vaccination programme will be opened to children over the age of 15 to help make “India’s battle against coronavirus stronger”. Currently, Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin is the only vaccine that has received emergency use listing from the Drugs Controller General of India for children.

The children’s vaccination programme, which is being carried out in consultation with schools, will be held at hospitals and health centres, NDTV reported. Several schools and other educational institutions have been converted into vaccination centres as well.

As of 7.30 am on Monday, 8,07,535 children between 15 and 18 years of age have registered in the government’s CoWin portal.

Children can book their vaccination slots using their parents’ existing CoWIN accounts or register by creating a new account through a unique mobile number. They can register on site too by the verifier or the person administering the vaccine.

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