Covid vaccine for 12-14 age group from March 16, boosters for all above 60

The COVID vaccination for children in the age group of 12 -14 years will begin from March 16, while the co-morbidity clause for administering precaution doses to 60+ citizens has been removed, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya announced on Monday.

The COVID-19 vaccine to be administered to the 12-14 years age group would be Corbevax manufactured by Biological Evans, Hyderabad.

Tweeting the announcement in Hindi, the minister said, “if the children are safe then the country is safe! I am happy to inform that the COVID vaccination of children in the age group of 12 to 13 and 13 to 14 is starting from March 16. Also, everyone aged 60+ will now be able to get precaution doses.” He also urged the families of children and people in the age group of 60+ that they must get vaccinated.

The Union government after due deliberations with scientific bodies has decided to start COVID19 vaccination for 12-13 yr and 13-14 yr age groups (those born in 2008, 2009 and 2010. i.e those who are already above 12 years of age) of the population from March 16, 2022, the health ministry said in a statement.

The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 last year with healthcare workers (HCWs) getting inoculated in the first phase. The vaccination of frontline workers (FLWs) started from February 2 last year.

The next phase of COVID-19 vaccination commenced from March 1 for people over 60 years of age and those aged 45 and above with specified co-morbid conditions.

The country launched vaccination for all aged more than 45 years from April 1, 2021.

The government then decided to expand its vaccination drive by allowing everyone above 18 to be vaccinated from May 1 last year.

The next phase of COVID-19 vaccination commenced from January 3 for adolescents in the age group of 15-18 years.

India began administering precaution dosez of COVID-19 vaccine to healthcare workers, frontline workers, including personnel deployed for election duty and those aged 60 and above with co-morbidities, from January 10 this year amid a spike in coronavirus infections fuelled by Omicron variant of the virus in the country.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Dear Reader,

Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.

We, however, have a request.

As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.

Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.

Digital Editor