Health Min Mandaviya interacts with young beneficiaries on Day 1 of vaccination for kids

With the Union government opening COVID-19 vaccination drives for teenagers aged 15 to 18 years from January 3 onwards, the younger citizens have participated actively in huge numbers to get themselves inoculated. 

To take note of the inauguration of the new phase of COVID vaccination, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya visited the Ram Manohar Lohiya hospital in Delhi and interacted with young beneficiaries of the COVID vaccination - those teenagers who got jabbed on the first day of the vaccination programme. 

During his visit, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya also spoke to youngsters waiting for their turn to get vaccinated and encouraged them to propagate the cause of getting vaccinated amongst their peers. Sharing a clip of his interaction on Twitter, the Health Minister wrote, “Visited RML Hospital and took stock of the vaccination campaign for children in the age group of 15-18 years, and interacted with the children and asked them to motivate their friends for the vaccine.”

Delhi Health Minister Satyender Jain has informed that the national capital can vaccinate three lakh children, who come under the category, every day. The vaccination drive will be carried out from January 3 between 9 am and 5 pm at centres located in selected schools, hospitals and health facilities across Delhi.

The Centre had launched the latest vaccination programme given the surging cases of the ‘highly transmissible Omicron variant, which can be a potential threat to children. Amid the rising demand for the administration of booster doses, the Centre had also permitted the inoculation of healthcare and frontline workers and the elderly above 60 years of age with comorbidities from January 10 onwards.

Criteria for children aged 15-18 yrs to be enrolled for vaccination:

1. Children born in or before 2007 will be eligible to get the vaccine.
2. School ID/Aadhaar Card will be mandatory for enrollment.
3. Parents are requested to accompany children. School students can also be accompanied by teachers.
4. Covaxin will be administered to all children.
5. Both on-site & offline registration facilities will be available
6. Registration can be done through existing accounts (parents) or a self-made account on the CoWIN platform.

Image: Twitter/@mansukhmandviya