The Centre on Monday announced that children between the age group of 15-18 years can register themselves for COVID-19 vaccines on the CoWIN app starting from January 1. The first round of vaccination for children aged 15-18 will start from January 3.
Eligible children can register themselves for Covid vaccination on the CoWIN app using their school ID cards, said CoWIN chief Dr. RS Sharma."We've added an additional (10th) ID card for registration - the student ID card because some might not have Aadhaar or other identity cards," the CoWIN chief told news agency ANI.
Bharat Biotech's Covaxin and Zydus Cadila's ZyCoV-D are the only two Covid-19 vaccines that were approved for kids over 12. However, Bharat Biotech's Covaxin is likely to be the only jab to be used for the vaccination of children between the age of 15 and 18 years, news agency PTI reported. According to media reports, ZyCoV-D will not be a part of children's immunisation programme starting January 3, 2022 as it has not yet been introduced even for adults.
Serum Institute's Novavax was cleared for trials on children who belong to the age group of 7-11 years and Biological E's Corbevax was also cleared for trials on children over 5 years of age. However, both Novavax and Corbevax are yet to be cleared for use.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Saturday that Covid vaccination for Children between 15-18 years will commence from January 3, 2022. He also said that the government will start providing the third dose of Covid vaccination healthcare/frontline workers and people above the age of 60 from January 10, 2022.
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"The decision to vaccinate children will not only strengthen our fight against Covid-19, rather it would also reduce the worries of the parents whose children are going to schools," the prime minister had said while addressing the nation.
The Centre took the decision to vaccinate children, healthcare workers, frontlines, and the elderly population amid the rising concerns over the spread of the Omicron Covid variant. In addition to this, the country also recorded a spike in Covid cases among Children after the schools were reopened.
