Chandigarh: The Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), in Chandigarh, will be one of the first hospitals in the country to administer the Covid-19 vaccine to teens between ages 15 and 18 from January 3.
As per the latest guidelines by the Health Ministry, the age group will receive two doses of Covaxin with a 28-day interval from January 3.
Parents have been asked to register for their children on the CoWIN portal.
While minors in the age group will start getting the jab from January 3, authorities have also announced a "precautionary" dose for all the health care and frontline workers, and the elderly with comorbidities from January 10. The same will be administered at LT-1 Nehru Building, PGI.
To mention, in November, PGIMER had invited children between the ages 2 and 17 to volunteer for the second and third phases of trials of Covovax, developed by US-based Novavax.
PGI is among 10 institutes across the country conducting trials to study the immune response of the vaccine against Covid-19 in kids.
The Centre on Tuesday has identified 7,40,57,000 projected beneficiaries between the age group of 15-18 years for Covid-19 vaccination scheduled to start from January 3.
Similarly, 2,75,14,000 beneficiaries with comorbidities in the age group of 60 years and above have been identified for the 'precautionary dose' of Covid-19 vaccines.
In a letter sent to states and UTs, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan has pointed out that for the vaccination of the people in the age group of 15-18 years, only Covaxin will be used for this purpose.
During the day, Bhushan also had a meeting with health secretaries of States and UTs. He said that the Covid19 vaccination drive has continuously been guided by scientific evidence and global best practices.
"Keeping in view the recent global surge of Covid19 cases, detection of Omicron variant, it has been decided to further refine the scientific prioritisation and coverage of Covid19 vaccination," Bhushan said.
It has been decided that security personnel to be deployed in poll-bound states will also be included in front-line workers (FLW) groups for vaccination.
As per government statistics available with ETV Bharat, Uttar Pradesh has the highest projected population of 1,40,14,000 people in the age group of 15-18, followed by Bihar 83,46,000 and Maharashtra 60,63,000. Similarly, Uttar Pradesh has the highest projected population of 37,54,400 people in the age group of 60 years and above with comorbidities, followed by Maharashtra 29,09,600 people and Tamil Nadu 20,83,800.
Read: Got second Covid-19 vaccine dose 9 months ago? Be ready for 'precautionary' shot
