India could start inoculating youngsters within the 12-14 age group in opposition to covid-19 in March because the 15-18 inhabitants is prone to get absolutely vaccinated by then, Dr NK Arora, chairman of the Covid-19 working group of National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI), mentioned on Monday.
Of the estimated 7.4 crore (7,40,57,000) inhabitants within the 15-18 age bracket, over 3.45 crore have obtained the primary dose of Covaxin thus far and their second dose is due in 28 days, he mentioned.
“Adolescents in this age group have been actively participating in the inoculation process, and going by this pace of vaccination, the rest of the beneficiaries in the 15-18 age group are likely to be covered with the first dose by January-end and later their second dose is expected to be done by February-end,” mentioned the NTAGI chairman.
Once the 15-18 age group is roofed, he mentioned, the federal government is prone to take a coverage determination for initiating the vaccination drive for the 12-14 age group in March.
According to him, there’s an estimated 7.5 crore inhabitants within the 12-14 age group.
Provisional vaccination studies until 7 am on Monday confirmed that with greater than 39 lakh doses being administered in a span of 24 hours, the cumulative quantity has exceeded 157.20 crore doses.
According to authorities knowledge, over 3.45 crore first doses have been given to youngsters within the 15-18 years age group thus far.
The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 final 12 months with healthcare employees (HCWs) getting inoculated within the first part. The vaccination of frontline employees (FLWs) began from February 2, 2021.
The subsequent part of Covid-19 vaccination commenced from March 1 final 12 months for folks over 60 years of age and people aged 45 and above with specified co-morbid circumstances.
The nation launched vaccination for all folks aged greater than 45 years from April 1, 2021.
The authorities then determined to develop its vaccination drive by permitting everybody above 18 to be vaccinated from May 1.
The subsequent part of Covid-19 vaccination has commenced from January 3 this 12 months for adolescents within the age group of 15-18 years.
India started administering the “precaution dose” – a 3rd jab of COVID-19 vaccine – to healthcare, frontline employees together with personnel deployed for election obligation and people aged 60 and above with co-morbidities from January 10 amid the nation witnessing a spike in coronavirus infections, pushed primarily by the Omicron variant of the virus.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
