Children Above 12 Years With Comorbidities To Be Prioritised For Covid Vaccination In India: Report

The advisory group mentioned that the process for approval of Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin for children will begin by September-end or October

Representative Image | Vaccination for children

New Delhi: With the third wave of Covid likely to affect children, all those above the age of 12 with comorbidities will be prioritised for vaccination, according to the government advisory committee National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (NTAGI).

While talking to CNBC-TV18, NTAGI chief NK Arora informed that a certain supply of Zydus Cadila’s Zycov-D vaccine, which has been approved for emergency use authorization, will be kept aside for comorbid adolescents even as vaccinating adults remains a priority.

The advisory group mentioned that the process for approval of Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin for children will begin by September-end or October, as per the report. Arora informed that 10 cr Covaxin doses per month are estimated from September.

The Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) last week gave its nod to Zydus Cadila's three-dose Covid-19 DNA vaccine for emergency use in adults and children aged 12 years and above.

Developed in partnership with the Department of Biotechnology, Zydus Cadila's vaccine becomes the second home-grown vaccine to get emergency authorisation and the sixth vaccine authorised for use in the country.

The company aims to manufacture 100 million to 120 million doses of ZyCoV-D annually and has started to stockpile the vaccine. The Ahmedabad-based generic drugmaker applied for the authorisation of ZyCoV-D on July 1, based on an efficacy rate of 66.6 percent in a late-stage trial of over 28,000 volunteers nationwide.

On the other hand, a committee of experts constituted under the National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) have cautioned against an imminent third wave that could peak around October and called for medical preparedness for children who might be prone to similar risk as elders.

The approvals for vaccination will come in a phased manner which will first include children aged 12 years and above. The approvals will be given for the release of vaccines for 6 to 12 years of children and later for children aged between two to six years.