Gurugram: Jab drive for children aged 12-15 picks up after slow start last week

After a slow start last week, the pace of vaccination for children in the 12-15 age group picked up this week, officials said Wednesday

After a slow start last week, the pace of vaccination for children in the 12-15 age group picked up this week, officials said Wednesday.

Gurugram, India-March 23: A health worker administers a dose of the Covid-19 vaccine Corbevax to a student in the age group of 12 to 14 years at a private school in Heera Nagar, Gurugram, India, on Wednesday, 23 March 2022. (Photo by Parveen Kumar/Hindustan Times)

According to official records, at least 9,685 children were vaccinated in the last three days. About 4,182 children received the first dose on Monday, 4,124 on Tuesday and 1,379 on Wednesday. The number was lower on Wednesday due to a government holiday, said officials.

The vaccination drive for children aged between 12 and 15 years started across the country on March 16. On Day 1, over 6,500 children in the district took the first dose of the Corbevax vaccine. However, the vaccination numbers fell drastically on the second day, as only 808 children were vaccinated. This continued till Sunday when only 629 children were vaccinated.

Dr Virender Yadav, chief medical officer, Gurugram, said, “Last week, the pace of vaccination was slow because some schools were holding examinations and were then closed for Holi festivities. The pace has now picked up. We are setting up vaccination camps in schools daily.”

Gurugram has around 85,000 eligible children in this age group.

On Thursday, vaccination camps will be set up in 53 schools across the district from 10am till 5pm with a total of 10,600 doses. Vaccination sites will also be set up in 18 government health centres with 3,600 slots on Thursday.

Meanwhile, 434 children in the 15-18 age group were vaccinated in the district on Wednesday with 166 receiving their first dose and 294 their second dose. A total of 3,291 doses of Covid-19 vaccines were administered in the district, including 1,685 first doses, 1,279 second doses and 327 booster doses.

On Wednesday, Gurugram reported 62 fresh cases of Covid-19, along with 53 recoveries with a positivity rate of 1.71%. The district now has 249 active cases.