COVID vaccination for kids aged 15-18 to begin from Jan 3; Delhi & TN announce action plan

Amid rising COVID-19 cases in India, the country is all set to begin the new drive of vaccination for children aged 15 to 18 years, from Monday. The registration for COVID vaccination of the age group began on January 1, on the CoWIN platform. Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain has informed that the national capital has the capacity to vaccinate 3 lakh children every day falling under the category. 

Kerala Health Minister Veena George informed that separate teams have been constituted for the administration of COVID-19 vaccines to children. Tamil Nadu government has identified over 33 lakh children aged between 15 and 18 to administer the vaccine against COVID-19 and would commence the exercise from January 3 at the kids' respective educational institutions, a senior government official said on Saturday.

CoWIN to play major role in vaccinating children

The central government has issued a series of guidelines for the COVID-19 vaccination drive which is scheduled to start on January 3, 2022. The registrations have started days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced about vaccinating children from January after Bharat Biotech's COVID-19 vaccine was approved for administering eligible recipients in the age group between 15 and 18. 

Speaking to Republic, Senior Paediatrician and Chairman, Nephron Clinic, Dr Sanjeev Bagai said, that the Cowin app has worked pretty well over the past few months and supported the vaccination drive across the country.

In a statement, the health ministry informed that only "Covaxin" will be available for children in the age-group 15-18 years. The vaccination for them will begin on January 3, 2022.

CoWIN features for new beneficiaries aged 15-18 years

• All those aged 15 years or more will be able to register on CoWIN . In other words, all those whose birth year is 2007 or before, shall be eligible.
• Beneficiaries can self-register online through an existing account on CoWIN or can also register by creating a new account through a unique mobile number. This facility is available for all eligible citizens presently.
• Such beneficiaries can also be registered by the verifier/vaccinator in facilitated registration mode.
• Appointments can be booked online or onsite (walk-in)
• For such beneficiaries, the option for vaccination would only be available for Covaxin as this is the only vaccine with EUL for the age-group 15-18.