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Hold spl sessions, train teams for inoculation of 12-14 group: Centre

Hold spl sessions, train teams for inoculation of 12-14 group: Centre
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New Delhi: The Centre on Tuesday released guidelines for COVID-19 vaccination of children between 12 and 14 years that will begin from March 16 and said only Corbevax vaccine would be used for the beneficiaries of this age group.

Two doses of Biological E's intramuscular vaccine Corbevax would be administered to the beneficiaries in the 12-14 years age group at an interval of 28 days, the guidelines said.

India logged 2,568 new infections, taking the total tally of Covid cases to 4,29,96,062, while the active cases dipped to 33,917, according to the Union Health ministry data updated on Tuesday.

The death toll climbed to 5,15,974 with 97 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The active cases comprise 0.08 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate further improved to 98.72 per cent, the ministry said. A reduction of 2,251 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

Meanwhile, the Centre has asked states to organise dedicated Covid vaccination sessions through earmarked centres, and train vaccinators to avoid mixing of vaccines during the inoculation of children in 12-14 age-group.

COVID-19 vaccination for the age group will begin at all government Covid Vaccination Centres from Wednesday on the occasion of National Vaccination Day.

Beneficiaries can get the shot after online registration (beginning 9 am on Wednesday) or through onsite walk-in.

In a video conference with representatives of all states and Union Territories, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said: "Vaccinators and vaccination teams need to be trained to ensure that particularly for 12-14 years age group there is no mixing of vaccines. States were advised to organise dedicated vaccination sessions through earmarked COVID-19 Vaccination Centers for vaccination of 12-14 years' age-group to avoid mixing with other vaccines."

The states were also advised to ensure judicious utilisation of available COVID-19 vaccines. As per earlier guidelines, states can replace those that are due for expiry and also replace them from one district within the state to another to ensure that vaccines are not wasted.

The Centre also shared similar guidelines with states in a letter issued on Monday.

COVID-19 vaccination of children between 12-14 years will begin from March 16 and only Corbevax vaccine would be used for the beneficiaries of age group 12-13 and 13-14 years, it said.

Beneficiaries between 14 and 15 years have already been covered during the vaccination for 15-18 years' age group.

According to the guidelines, as of March 1, 2021 there are as many as 4.7 crore children aged 12 and 13 years in the country.

Also, precaution dose can now be provided to all persons aged 60 years and above and the prioritisation and sequencing of this dose would be based on completion of nine months — 39 weeks from the date of administration of the second dose.

The guidelines said the vaccination of precaution dose should be with the same vaccine with which primary vaccination was done.

According to the guidelines, all beneficiaries born in 2010 or earlier — those who have already attained the age of 12 years — will be able to register on CoWIN.

"The vaccination slots will be booked for 12-14 years age group for "CorBEvax" only through Co-WIN. Vaccinator has to ensure that the vaccine is administered to only those children who have completed the age of 12 years on the date of vaccination and if a child is registered but has not attained the age of 12 years, the vaccination is not to be given," the guidelines said.

The registration can be done through the following modes — self-registration through an existing account on Co-WIN of a family member or by creating a new account through a unique mobile number (this facility is available for all eligible citizens presently), it said.

It can also be done through onsite registration by the vaccinator in facilitated registration mode and appointments can be booked online or onsite (walk-in) for 12-14 years.

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