NEW DELHI: As registrations for Covid-19 vaccination of children in the age bracket of 15 to 18 years commenced from Saturday on the CoWIN portal, health minister Mansukh Mandaviya said the safety of children secures the future of the country and urged the people to get their eligible children registered for vaccination.
Taking to Twitter, the health minister said, “If the children are safe, then the future of the country is safe! On the occasion of New Year, registration is being started on the CoWIN portal for Covid-19 vaccination of children in the age group of 15 to 18 years from today. I request the family members to register the eligible children for vaccination”.
As announced by PM Narendra Modi on December 25, 2021, the vaccination for the age-group of 15-18 began on Saturday while the administration of the precautionary third dose for the vulnerable categories is to commence from January 10, 2022.
In the context of the vaccination of the age group 15-18 years, the Union health secretary informed states/UTs that only Covaxin is to be administered to this population and additional doses of Covaxin will be sent to all.
The Union government will share the supply schedule of Covaxin in the next few days. Potential beneficiaries can either register themselves on CoWIN from January 1, 2022, or avail of a walk-in registration when vaccination commences from January 3.
All protocols are to be followed for the 15-18 age group; beneficiaries are to wait for half an hour when they will be monitored for the adverse events following immunization (AEFI) and will be eligible for second dose after 28 days.
States were informed that they have the option to designate some Covid vaccination centre (CVC)s as dedicated CVC for the 15-18 age group which can also be reflected on CoWIN. Dedicated CVCs would ensure there is no confusion in administering the vaccines. For CVCs that are intended to serve categories in addition to the 15-18 age group, were requested to ensure separate queues for the 15-18 age group.