Children to get COVID-19 vaccination soon | Fusion - WeRIndia

Currently, the vaccination drive has been going on in the country for all adults aged above 18. Soon, the vaccination drive will start in the country for children aged above 12 years.

The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) approved Zydus Cadila’s DNA vaccine, ZyCoV-D, for emergency use. It will be used for vaccinating both adults and children aged 12 years and above. However, the vaccine needs to be introduced in the national vaccination programme.

ZyCoV-D is a needle-free vaccine. It is a three-dose vaccine. The vaccine is manufactured by Zydus Cadila. The company received approval for EUA to be given to children aged between 12 to 18 years. As of now, it is the only COVID-19 vaccine that received approval for the immunization of children in the country.

Dr NK Arora, Chairperson of the National Immunization Technical Advisory Group said that the vaccine would be given to children with comorbidities first after the commencement of the vaccination drive in the country for them. Those who are at the highest risk of getting severe diseases will be identified and vaccinated first. The list will be prepared accordingly and kept in the public domain. Later, the remaining children will be immunized.

Dr Arora said that children act as vectors and spread the infection. Hence, all adults in their surroundings need to be immunized and get protected. As schools in various regions across the country are reopening, teachers and other staff in the schools shall have to get vaccinated.

In this regard, he said that half of all adult citizens received jabs. There are nearly 44 crore children in the country. The government is planning to immunize all children as soon as possible.

Earlier, in June, the joint survey of WHO-AIIMS revealed that seroprevalence was 55.7 per cent in children aged below 18 years. The survey emphasized that there was no significant difference in prevalence between adults and children.

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