Covid-19 vaccination for children: Adolescents above 12 with comorbidities will be prioritised, says govt panel

As Covid-19 vaccine doses for children are in the offing before the third wave of pandemic kicks in, the National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (NTAGI) recently informed that children above the age of 12 with comorbidities will be given priority for immunization.

The Drug Controller General recently gave its nod for the emergency use of Zycov-D, a COVID-19 vaccine developed by the Ahmedabad-based pharma firm, Zydus Cadila group. Zycov-D will be India’s first Covid-19 vaccine that can be administered to adults as well as those 12 and above.

According to Pankaj R Patel, chairman of Cadila Healthcare, the vaccine showed 66 percent efficacy. The clinical trials were conducted on over 28,000 subjects that included adolescents and when the Delta variant was prevalent in India. The three-dose cycle comes in the interval of 28 days and 56 days, respectively from the first dose

NTAGI chief NK Arora said that a part of the supply of this vaccine will be set aside for comorbid adolescents. Process for approval of Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin for administering to children has been under trials for a while and will begin by September or October this year, he further informed. However, vaccinating the adults or ones above 18 will remain the priority, and about 10 crore Covaxin doses will be produced per month from September, he added.

Earlier this month Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya hinted at vaccination for children to start as early as September. The Delhi government too is drafting a plan for vaccination of the children against Covid-19