Over 3 lakh doses of Covid vaccine given to children aged 12-14 years on day 1

Over 3 lakh children between 12 and 14 years have received their first shot of Covid vaccine taking the total doses administered in the country to over 180.80 crore, according to Union Health Ministry data.

The vaccination against COVID-19 in the age group of 12-14 years started on Wednesday with Biological E’s intramuscular vaccine Corbevax, two doses of which are to be administered 28 days apart. As of March 1, 2021, there were 4.7 crore children aged 12 and 13 years in the country.

More than 2.15 crore precaution doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered to healthcare and frontline workers, and those aged above 60 years. All people aged 60 and above have been made eligible for the precaution dose to Covid vaccine. The prioritisation and sequencing of the dose would be based on the completion of nine months to 39 weeks from the date of administration of the second dose.

The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16, 2021, with the healthcare workers getting inoculated in the first phase. Vaccination of the frontline workers started from February 2 last year.

The next phase of COVID-19 vaccination commenced on March 1 last year for people over 60 years of age and those aged 45 and above with specified co-morbid conditions. India launched vaccination for all people aged more than 45 years from April 1 last year.

The government then decided to expand its vaccination drive by allowing everyone above 18 years of age to be inoculated against the viral disease from May 1 last year.

The next phase of Covid vaccination commenced from January 3 this year for adolescents in the age group of 15-18 years. India began administering precaution doses of the vaccines to the healthcare and frontline workers and those aged 60 and above with comorbidities from January 10 this year.