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Covid vaccines for kids likely by September: Dr Randeep Guleria
So far, two mRNA vaccines by Pfizer and Moderna are the only ones approved for use in people below the age of 18 years.
Vaccines against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) for children could become available as soon as September, with Zydus Cadila including data on children in their application for emergency use authorisation and Covaxin’s trial in children about to end soon, national task force member Dr Randeep Guleria said on Saturday.
“In the coming few weeks or by September, vaccines should be available for children,” he was quoted as saying by news agency PTI. He, however, clarified that it will all depend on what the data shows and approval from the country’s apex drug regulator. “It all depends on regulatory approvals and data from trials. Unclear exactly when it will start,” Dr Guleria told HT.
So far, two mRNA vaccines by Pfizer and Moderna are the only ones approved for use in people below the age of 18 years.
In the Covaxin trial, children between the ages of 12 and 18 years, and 6 and 12 years have received both the jabs, whereas those between the ages of 2 and 6 years are yet to get the second jab at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.
Dr Guleria told PTI: “We should then start schools in a graded manner as we have been doing for 18-45 years age and that also will give more protection to the kids and more confidence to the public that children are safe.” He earlier said schools should be reopened in a staggered manner in places where the positivity rate has dropped below 5%.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said that the Capital will keep an eye on reopening of schools in other states, learn from them, and then decide whether schools should be reopened. “The ideal situation would be to open schools after vaccination,” he said.
The positivity rate in Delhi has been below 5% for more than two months.
Public health experts have said that children, like everyone else, should get vaccinated against the disease as and when they become eligible and shots become available.
(With agency inputs)
