New Delhi: Over 40 lakh people in the 15-18 years age group received their first dose on the first day of vaccination drive for children till 8 PM on Monday, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said.
"Well done Young India! Over 40 Lakhs between 15-18 age group received their first dose of #COVID-19 vaccine on the 1st day of vaccination drive for children, till 8 PM. This is another feather in the cap of India’s vaccination drive," Mandaviya said in a tweet.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India has taken an important step in protecting its youth population against COVID-19. "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," the PM tweeted.
The COVID-19 vaccination drive for beneficiaries in the 15-18 age group commenced from Monday across the country amid a scare of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
In the guidelines issued on December 27, the Union health ministry said that the vaccine option for this age group would only be indigenously-developed Bharat Biotech's Covaxin. "Bharat Biotech is proud to serve the nation and contribute to the nationwide vaccine campaign in children which began today. Covaxin is available for use in children 15-18 years. We reaffirm our commitment and preparedness to support the campaign to achieve the desired goal," the biotech company said in a statement on Monday.
The vaccination centres across the country witnessed a huge rush on Monday. ETV Bharat team visited the vaccination centre at RML Hospital in New Delhi and interacted with the eligible children, parents and government officials on the day.
"Since morning we have vaccinated more than 47 children and by the grace of God, there was no complication and children are very happy. Although they were earlier anxious, we tried to relax their mind so that they tell their friends too to get the vaccination," said Ritu Malhotra, nursing officer at RML hospital. She said that parents were also enthusiastic while bringing their children to the vaccination centres.
"Our pediatric team are keeping all the children under observation and parents are also encouraging them," said Malhotra. She informed that each vaccination centre is supposed to vaccinate 200 children per day that includes 100 online registration and 100 offline registration.
A total of 39,89,152 children registered their names for vaccination through the Co-WIN dashboard till 5.30 pm on Monday.
"We are hopeful that the vaccination will give us protection. Today, we came here to get vaccinated and we have provided them Aadhar card for registration," said Rohan, a student of Moribagh school in the national capital.
Another student, Deepika echoed the same and said that vaccination will give a high degree of protection against fast-spreading coronavirus. "All eligible children should get vaccinated," said Deepika, a class 12 student of a New Delhi school.
ETV Bharat also spoke to a few parents to know their feelings when they accompanied their children to the vaccination centres.
"In the coming days, children have examinations and the vaccination will definitely give them protection against the COVID-19 virus," said Sandhya Paliwal, who accompanied her 16-year-old daughter to the vaccination centre.
Similarly, Sai Kartik and his mother Nag Laxmi were quite enthusiastic while getting the Covid-19 jabs. "Parents should support and accompany their children. My child is 16 years old and after getting the vaccine, he will be surely protected and he can go to his school," said Nag Laxmi.
It is estimated that with daily vaccination of 50-60 lakh children every day on an average, it will take an estimated three weeks to inoculate eligible children against Covid-19. According to Health Ministry statistics, there are 7,40,57,000 teenagers in the 15-18 year age group who are eligible for the Covid-19 vaccination.
"If we administer 50-60 lakh doses every day, we will take three to four weeks to vaccinate the entire population of eligible children," said Dr Suneela Garg, national president of the Indian Association of Preventive and Social Medicines (IAPSM). Dr Garg, however, cautioned that the availability of vaccine and vaccine hesitancy will be the major challenges during the vaccination drive for teenagers.
"Availability of vaccines and vaccine hesitancy were the major challenges during the initial stages of the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive for adults rolled out by the government last year. However, we were able to overcome both the issues," she said.
She hoped that with the increasing production capacity of Bharat Biotech, "there may not be an issue of vaccine shortage."
As per the Health Ministry statistics, apart from three States (Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra) having maximum number of eligible children between the age group of 15-18 years, the Centre has also figured out eligible children in high Covid-19 caseload States.
Accordingly, 10,14,000 eligible children have been identified in Delhi, followed by 60,63,000 in Maharashtra, 15,34,000 in Kerala, 48,23,000 in West Bengal, 33,20,000 in Tamil Nadu, 31,75,000 in Karnataka and 35,58,000 in Gujarat.
Meanwhile, new COVID-19 cases increased sharply across the country on Monday. Delhi reported 4,099 fresh COVID-19 cases and the positivity rate spiralled to 6.46 per cent while West Bengal reported 6,078 new Covid cases. Assam witnessed 351 new infections on the day, more than double that of the previous day's figure, while the number of recovered patients almost halved to 53. Maharashtra reported 12,160 fresh coronavirus cases on Monday, 283 more than the previous day, and 11 new deaths, while the active tally crossed the 50,000-mark.
