Delhi gets ready to inoculate 615,000 in 12-15 age group from Wednesday

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[google-translator]

At least 615,000 children in the 12-15 years age group will be eligible for Covid-19 vaccination from Wednesday, which also happens to be the National Vaccination Day. Senior citizens (60 years and above), who are yet to get their precautionary dose will be able to get the jab at any vaccination centre in Delhi from Wednesday.

The vaccination of children in this age group is significant because schools have now opened and students have started attending classes in person. Those who are 15 years old and above have already been covered by the national vaccination drive against Covid-19 in the two years of the pandemic.

Senior officials from the state health department said all preparations to roll out the vaccination drive for the cohort of children are in place and they will be administered only the Corbevax vaccine, manufactured by Biological E Limited. The Corbevax is the country’s first indigenously developed receptor binding domain (RBD) protein sub-unit vaccine against Covid-19.

However, on Wednesday, the Delhi government is planning only a token activity and the drive will be scaled up every day. All vaccination centres for the 12-15 year group will be government-run sites and in Delhi, these will be government schools and a few government dispensaries or hospitals. The vaccine will not be available in private facilities owing to security issues and limited availability of other Covid-19 vaccines approved for this age group.

Booking of slots can be done by self registration on Co-WIN, through an existing account of a family member or by creating a new account through a unique mobile number. On-site (walk-in) registration by the vaccinator in facilitated registration mode will also be available, health officials said.

“Vaccines and logistics have been distributed to all 11 districts of Delhi. The Government of India (GoI) guidelines have been endorsed and disseminated to all state functionaries engaged in the vaccination drive. A token activity is to be started from Wednesday (March 16) on the occasion of National Vaccination Day. Each session site has been also equipped with anaphylaxis kits for management of AEFIs (adverse event following immunization),” said a senior health official, requesting anonymity.

The vaccines will be administered to only those children who have attained the age of 12 years as of the date of vaccination. This means those who are born after March 15, 2010, will not be eligible for the Covid-19 vaccination yet.

The vaccinator and verifier will be responsible to ensure that any beneficiary aged less than 12 years is not inoculated. They have been asked to pay special attention to verifying the date of birth of young beneficiaries.

On Tuesday, the Delhi administration conducted district level orientation of all vaccinators. Another training on the Co-WIN platform will be done by the Union government on Wednesday. “Not just that, the training of March 16 will be carried forward with more training from the states to the districts and below,” the official said.

Each of the 11 districts have identified designated schools and other facilities for the drive. “Close coordination will be required with the department of education. District magistrates (DMs), chief district medical officers (CDMOs) and district immunisation officers (DIOs) have been asked to issue necessary directions and ensure timely roll-out of the activity,” the official quoted above said.

Speaking about the precautionary dose for senior citizens (60 years and above), the Delhi government said eligible beneficiaries can walk in to any vaccination centre to get the jab, keeping in mind the type of vaccine (Covishield or Covaxin) that was administered in the previous two doses. It will have to be a homologous (same type) vaccination, health officials said.

As per Union government estimates, Delhi has 1,904,000 people who are 60 years old and above.


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