India To Begin COVID Vaccination Of Children Aged 15-18, Give 'Precaution Doses' From January 2022: PM Modi

PM Modi announced that India will begin COVID vaccination of children aged 15 to 18 from January 3, 2022. The precaution dose for frontline workers and senior citizens will begin from Jan 10, 2022.

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday announced that India will begin COVID vaccination of children aged 15 to 18 from January 3, 2022. The "precaution dose" for healthcare and frontline workers will be administered from January 10, 2022.

People aged above 60 years with comorbidities will also be able to get precautionary doses of COVID vaccines from January 10, 2022, he said.

"In India, this has been called ‘precaution dose’ not booster dose. The decision of precaution dose will strengthen confidence of healthcare and frontline workers," a statement by the Prime Minister's office read.

In his address to the nation, PM Narendra Modi urged the citizens to not panic and follow COVID precautions amid the looming threat from Omicron.

"Infections are rising across several nations due to the new Omicron variant of COVID. In India too, many people have been found to be infected with Omicron. I would urge all of you not to panic, be careful, and alert. Remember to mask up and keep washing hands," he said.

Talking about India's preparedness, he added: "Today, the nation has 18 lakh isolation beds, 5 lakh oxygen supported beds, 1.4 lakh ICU beds, and 90,000 special beds for kids. Today, we have over 3,000 functional PSA Oxygen plants and 4 lakh cylinders have been provided to all states".

PM Modi mentioned that due to the people's collective effort and will, India has crossed the "unprecedented" and very difficult milestone of having administered 141 crore vaccine doses.

"Today, more than 61 per cent of India's adult population has received both doses of the vaccine. Similarly, about 90 per cent of the adult population has received single dose of the vaccine," he said, as quoted by PTI.

PM Modi stressed that following all preventive measures at a personal level and vaccination are the best ways to combat the pandemic while highlighting how India had started working on mission mode on vaccine development a long time ago. 

"Apart from research on the vaccine, we were also working on approval processes, supply chains, distribution, training, IT support system, and certification," the Prime Minister mentioned.

COVID Vaccine Jabs For 15-18 Age Group, 'Precaution Dose' For Frontline Workers

Announcing key decisions by the Union government in fight against Coronavirus, PM Modi said: "We are set to begin vaccination for kids aged between 15-18 from January 3, 2022. This will not just strengthen our fight against COVID, but also help our students in schools and colleges health-wise."

The Prime Minister spoke about the contribution of frontline workers saying "we all have experienced that the corona warriors, healthcare, and frontline workers made a huge contribution in keeping the country safe in this fight. They still spend a lot of his time in the service of Coronavirus patients".

"Therefore, from the point of view of precaution, the government has decided that 'precaution dose' of vaccine will be administered to healthcare and frontline workers from January 10, Monday," he announced.

PM Modi further revealed that those with comorbidities and above 60 years of age on the recommendation of their doctors will be eligible for precaution doses from January 10, 2022, onwards.

He also mentioned that the nasal vaccine and the world's first DNA vaccine will be available for inoculation soon.

COVID Vaccine For Children

While PM Modi did not say which vaccine will be administered to children, it was reported earlier in the day that the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has given emergency use approval to Bharat Biotech's vaccine - Covaxin - for children aged between 12-18 years.

In November, Serum Institute CEO Adar Poonawalla had said children in India should be administered the Covovax vaccine, and not Covishield, and that it would be available in six months’ time.

"Not Covishield... Covovax should be available in six months. (The) trials are on... no safety issues so far. We have gone down to the age of seven (with) good results..." Poonawalla told NDTV a month ago.

Before Covaxin, Zydus Cadila's needle-free COVID-19 vaccine ZyCoV-D had received the regulator's nod for use among those below 18 years.

The announcement on vaccination for children and precaution doses comes amid worry over the possibility of seeing the third wave of COVID infection in India as Omicron cases are increasing in the country.

(With Agency Inputs)