India rolls out vaccination for children: first day registers 41 lakh vaccinated
India – India began a vaccination drive for children in the age group of 15 to 18 years on Monday, January 3. The first day has witnessed more than 41 lakh receiving first dose of vaccine on the first day of roll out. While 41,27,468 first doses of Covaxin vaccine were administered to children in age category of 15-18 years, total number of vaccines administered pan India were 146.71 crore.
“Today we have taken an important step forward in protecting our youth against Covid-19. Congrats to all my young friends between the age group of 15-18 who got vaccinated. Congrats to their parents as well. I would urge more youngsters to get vaccinated in the coming days,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted.
The official data displayed maximum vaccines in children being administered in states of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. Madhya Pradesh reported 7,71,615 doses administered and Gujarat recorded 5,55,312 doses. Three other states reported more than 3 lakh Covaxin vaccine doses administered in this age group – Andhra Pradesh (4,87,269), Karnataka (4,14,723), and Rajasthan (3,57,018). On the other hand, five big states in country recorded administering just over 1lakh doses in the children of age group 15-18 years. Uttar Pradesh (1,66,996); Maharashtra (1,81,561); West Bengal (1,03,564); Bihar (1,70,603); and Tamil Nadu (1,87,710). Five other states only managed to administer just over 50,000 doses: Odisha (82,756); Himachal Pradesh (72,808); Assam (77,124); Uttarakhand (72,075); and Haryana (66,217).
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced vaccination roll out in children in the said category on December 25 as the country registers the rising number of cases of highly transmissible variants of Coronavirus, Omicron.
Before rollout of the vaccine, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya held a meeting with states on Sunday. The states were directed to orient teams of vaccination drives and also identify dedicated sites for the same. Well in advance the states were asked to plan Covaxin distribution at the earmarked sites well in advance. “To avoid the mixing-up of vaccines during administration, separate CVCs (Covid vaccination centers), session sites, queues (if at same session site where adult vaccination is ongoing) and separate vaccination team (if at same session site) are to be strived for,” Mandaviya told the states.