Gurugram: 85,000 kids above 12 years to get Covid vaccine ‘Corbevax’ from today

On the first day, only 20% slots can be booked online and vaccination will take place at all sites from 9am till 2pm as examinations are underway in most schools. Both online and offline booking slots will be available for vaccination in this age group from the second day onwards

The district health department will start vaccinating children in the 12-15 age group from Wednesday, said officials on Tuesday.

The second dose of the Corbevax vaccine will be administered to the children 28 days after the first dose. (Vipin Kumar/HT PHOTO)

The health department said it would administer the Corbevax vaccine at camps in 76 schools (44 government and 32 private schools) and six government health centres in the district on Wednesday. They said there are approximately 85,000 children in the age group in the district.

At the six government centres, 1,200 doses will be available and at each of the 76 schools, 200 doses will be available, officials said.

“According to directions from the Central and state governments, we will start vaccinating children aged 12-15 years with the first dose of Corbevax. The second dose will be administered 28 days later. In this category, only children who are already 12 years old (those born before March 15, 2010) will be eligible for the vaccine,” said Dr Virender Yadav, chief medical officer, Gurugram.

The CMO said that on the first day, only 20% slots can be booked online and vaccination will take place at all sites from 9am till 2pm as examinations are underway in most schools. Both online and offline booking slots will be available for vaccination in this age group from the second day onwards.

“We are focusing on setting up vaccination centres in schools along with government health centres. For now, Corbevax will only be available at government centres and there is no tentative date when the vaccine will be available at private hospitals. In Haryana, approximately 959,000 children are eligible in this age group and for Gurugram around 85,000 children are eligible,” added Yadav.

On Monday, union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya had announced that India will start vaccinating children aged 12-15 years against Covid-19 from Wednesday, adding that the booster dose of the jab will now be provided to everyone aged 60 years and above.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Gurugram recorded 61 fresh Covid-19 cases along with 89 recoveries. The district now has 315 active cases with a positivity rate of 1.50%. A total of 721 children aged 15 and above were vaccinated in the district, of whom 75 received their first dose and 646 received their second dose.

A total of 2,421 doses were administered on Tuesday, including 253 first doses, 1,860 second doses and 308 booster doses. With this, over 4.99 million doses have been administered in Gurugram district till now.