• Bharat Biotech's Covaxin is the only Covid-19 Vaccine available for Children of 15-18 years: Report

    National
    Bharat Biotech's Covaxin is the only Covid-19 Vaccine available for Children of 15-18 years: Report

    Digital Desk: As per government source, Bharat Biotech's Covaxin is the only covid-19 vaccine that will be inoculated to children aged 15-18 years.





    Additionally, frontline workers and senior citizens with comorbidities would receive a third dosage of the same vaccination they had previously received.





    "For the time being, Bharat Biotech's Covaxin is the only COVID-19 vaccine that will be given to youngsters aged 15 to 18 who will be injected on January 3. The population covered in this category is projected to be between seven and eight crores." an official source said.





    Source added that the time between the second and third doses of the covid-19 vaccine, termed as precaution doses, will likely be nine to twelve months.





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    On Saturday night, addressing the nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the vaccination drive to inoculate children between 15-18 years would start from January 3; on the other hand, the third dose for the frontline warriors and senior citizens with comorbidities will start from January 10.





    The decision from the government to inoculate this section of people came after the spike in Omicron cases in the country.





    Zydus Cadila's vaccine ZyCoV-D is yet to be included in its inoculation program, even though it gained emergency use authorization from the drug authority on August 20, making it the country's first vaccination to be delivered to children aged 12 to 18.





    On Friday, the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) gave emergency use authorization to Covaxin, an indigenously manufactured vaccine, for children aged 12 and up with specific restrictions.





    As per official reports, so far, vaccine has been inoculated to more than 61 percent of India's adult population. Similarly, over 90% of the adult population has had their first dose of the Covid vaccine.