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367k+ under-15s register on Day 1 as drive expands
At least 260,000 children between the ages of 12 and 15 were given coronavirus vaccines on Wednesday, the first day inoculations were opened up for the age group – the latest step in the expansion of the country’s immunisation drive
At least 260,000 children between the ages of 12 and 15 were given coronavirus vaccines on Wednesday, the first day inoculations were opened up for the age group – the latest step in the expansion of the country’s immunisation drive.
More than 367,000 children in the age group registered on the health ministry’s CoWIN portal to receive shots by 11pm on Wednesday, according to government data.
Also on Wednesday, booster doses were thrown open to everyone above the age of 60.
“Today is an important day in India’s efforts to vaccinate our citizens. Now onwards, youngsters in the 12-14 age group are eligible for vaccines and all those above 60 are eligible for precaution doses. I urge people in these age groups to get vaccinated,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted early on Wednesday. “Today, India has administered over 180 crore doses, which includes over 9 crore doses in age group of 15-17 and over 2 crore precaution doses. This forms an important protective shield for our citizens against Covid-19,” he added.
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Last week, the Union ministry of health and family welfare announced the beginning of administration of Biological E’s Corbevax, India’s first recombinant protein sub-unit vaccine, to the country’s estimated 71.4 million children between the ages of 12 and 15.
The new phase is significant as experts have repeatedly called for an expansion of the vaccine drive, especially booster doses, to fight new variants such as Omicron, which showed a substantial drop in vaccine efficacy against symptomatic disease.
A total of 260,136 children were administered the first dose of the vaccine till 11pm on Wednesday, while 367,735 registered for the shots, according health ministry’s CoWIN dashboard.
In total, over 1.8 billion shots of vaccines have been administered to nearly 970 million people across the country since the drive started on January 16, 2020. This means that around 89.3% of all Indians above the age of 12 (who are eligible for shots) have now received at least one shot of the vaccine.
To be sure, first-day vaccination numbers for the latest phase of the drive appeared to significantly fall short of what was achieved on the first day of inoculation for children in the 15-18 age group. When teens were first made eligible for vaccinations on January 3, more than 4.11 million shots were administered on the first day. There are an estimated 74 million children between the ages of 15 and 18, as per government statistics.
Local officials in states said that the numbers on the first day for 12-15 age group were low due to proximity of the Holi weekend and examinations, and that they expect turnouts to pick up after the holiday.
The shots for the new group were all administered at government vaccination centres on Wednesday as Biological E had not disclosed the pricing before the start of registrations. On Wednesday, Biological E said Corbevax will be priced at ₹800 per dose for the private market, and that it has proven to work in almost all existing variants of concern.
Also Read | Covid vaccination in 12-14 age group: Know common side-effects and precautions
“Corbevax is priced at ₹800 in the private market; if GST and administration cost is included then it would cost at ₹990,” announced Mahima Datla, managing director, of Hyderabad-based Biological E, in a media briefing on Wednesday. The Corbevax shot being administered under the national immunisation programme is priced at ₹145 for the government.
Datla added said the company has the capacity to produce around 100 million vaccine doses in a month, and can scale up production, if required. To date, 300 million vaccines have been produced as part of the firm’s commitment made to the government. “50 million doses have already been delivered to the government of India, and 250 million doses are lying in our inventory,” she said.
Low turnout on Day 1
Across states, the first day of vaccinations for the 12-15 age group appeared to kick off smoothly, with several state governments tying up with government schools to target maximum number of students.
In Tamil Nadu, the vaccination drive began at 9am, as it did across the country, from a government school in Chennai. “Since they are small children we were contemplating if we would require consent from their parents. The chief minister insisted we take their consent so the schools will be informing the parents as we expand the vaccination drive,” said state health minister M Subramanian.
In Assam, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma inaugurated the drive. Government officials said that since 90% of those eligible are enrolled in schools, they would vaccinate children in school itself. “The remaining 10% will be reached through other means like door-to-door campaigns,” said Munindra Nath Ngatey, Assam’s director health services and family welfare.
Most states expressed confidence that they would not fall short of vaccines, and they had been allotted adequate quantities of Corbevax – meant to be taken at an interval of 28 days. In Uttar Pradesh, for instance, there are 8.4 million eligible children, and the state has already been allotted 850,000 vaccine doses, officials said.
Dr Raghu Raj Singh, immunisation director, Rajasthan, said that there were 3 million eligible children in the state. Until 5pm, state health officials said 26,880 shots had been administered.
States such as Odisha said that they pushed ahead with vaccinations despite the prevailing heatwave conditions. Director of family welfare Bijay Panigrahi said: “Chief district medical officers have been asked to run the drive during morning hours due to prevailing heat wave conditions.”
Some states, however, admitted that they recorded extremely low vaccination rates on the first day. In Bihar, state officials said that there was a “token inauguration”, with only 10 doses being administered in Patna. “We will work in close coordination with schools, most of which are closed on account of Holi. We expect the vaccination drive to take-off after that,” a state official said.
In Maharashtra, the BKC Covid-19 Jumbo Centre administered the first dose of Corbevax to 24 people till 6.30pm. Additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani said low turnout was anticipated because it was the first day and examinations were underway.
West Bengal, however, did not begin its vaccination drive for the age group on Wednesday. “Preparations are ongoing. It will take 2-3 days to start the vaccination drive in the state,” senior health official.
Doctors also believe expanding the inoculation drive to a younger age group owing to infection scare. “We would need to vaccinate younger kids as well because they may not get severe disease themselves but they run the risk of infecting others in the family who may develop serious disease,” said Dr Anupam Sibal, group medical director, Apollo Hospitals.
