COVID vaccines for children likely to start from August: Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya

Amid the prolonged uncertainties of COVID-19 vaccination for children, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Tuesday said that the Government would most likely start vaccinating children against COVID-19 from next month. This development was discussed in the BJP Parliamentary Party meeting when Mansukh Mandaviya made the revelation. Mandaviya also asserted that India will soon be the largest vaccine producing country with more companies getting the licence for vaccines production.

Covaxin for children?

All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Director Dr Randeep Guleria on July 24, revealed that results of the Bharat Biotech's Covaxin trials for children are likely to be released by September. AIIMS will start the second dose trial of COVAXIN in 2-6 year-olds this week, the hospital had then confirmed. On May 13, the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) had given nod to phase-2/3 trials on children ageing 2-18-year-olds. The trials are said to be taking place on 525 subjects at various sites, including AIIMS, Delhi, AIIMS, Patna, and Meditrina Institute of Medical Sciences, Nagpur with two doses administered in an interval of 28 days. While Covaxin will be the first such vaccine in India that would cater to inoculating small children, Zydus Cadila's ZyCOV-D, if approved, will innoculate children over 12 years.

Scientists across the world are studying the efficacy of various COVID-19 vaccines on children as multiple candidates are under clinical trials. Moreover, another wave of COVID-19 has hit many countries while India anticipates a third COVID-19 wave. Due to this, the vaccination for children becomes all the more important as the vaccination drives for adults has already been rolled out across the country in a phased manner with frontline workers being the first, followed by the 60+ and the 45+ and lastly the 18+ category.

India's fight against COVID-19

Vaccination is an important weapon against COVID-19 as it significantly reduces the chances of fatality when contracted with Coronavirus. So far India has been using three vaccines in its vaccination drives across the country i.e. Covishield manufactured by Serum Institute of India, Covaxin developed and produced by Bharat Biotech and Russian vaccine Sputnik V.

The fight against COVID-19 in India continues even as the country has moved on from the devastating second wave of COVID-19. On Tuesday, India recorded 29,689 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, according to Union Health Ministry. The total death count stands at 4,21,382 with 415 deaths recorded in the last 24 hours. According to the Union Health Ministry, the active caseload has dropped to under four lakh and stands at 3,98,100; and the total recoveries have surged to 3,06,21,469.

Although the number of new COVID-19 cases still remains close to 30,000, it is still significantly lesser than the numbers that were recorded during the peak of the second wave when new single day cases had gone over the four lakh mark. The last time India reported less than 30,000 COVID-19 cases was on March 17, right before the second wave started peaking. The Health Ministry stated that the active caseload has fallen below the 4 lakh mark after a gap of 124 days and constitutes 1.27% of the total cases.