New Delhi: The Capital saw a tepid response as it began administering the Corbevax Covid-19 vaccine to children aged between 12 and 14 years with government officials and vaccination centre officials saying that more needed to be done to reach the masses and that the pace would pick up soon enough.
Nearly 3,800 children between 12 and 14 years were vaccinated against Covid in Delhi on Wednesday. The drive for this age group has begun with Biological E's Corbevax vaccine to be administered 28 days apart.
On the first day, children were inoculated largely through 'walk-in' and the numbers were very few at the session sites — with those at the centres mostly focusing on ensuring that no one falling out of the age bracket is given a shot.
The authorities had earlier said it would essentially be a token exercise on the first day with very few schools being used as Covid vaccination centres. About six to seven lakh children in the age bracket of 12 to 14 years are eligible for vaccination in the city.
"A token launch of Covid vaccination for 12-14 years age group was done on the occasion of National Immunization Day. About 3,800 children were vaccinated across Delhi," said a senior health department official.
The official said training and planning have been completed and the vaccination activity is expected to pick up over the next few days. "Amongst the smaller states, Delhi had a high coverage on the first day," the official added. Several Covid vaccination centres across 11 districts in Delhi have been identified for the inoculation exercise. The Delhi government has received 6,31,400 doses of the Corbevax vaccine.
A resident of Dilshad garden said that she took her child and her neighbour's son to a government school at J and K pocket at Dilshad Garden for vaccination after being informed about it by the school teacher.
The vaccination centre in charge there said about 13 students, mostly from the same school, had come for vaccination till afternoon. Our staff are visiting nearby areas and informing people about the vaccination facility at the school, he added. Officials at a vaccination centre in Greater Kailash-I said it opened at 9 am, but not a single dose was administered till afternoon.
Pradeep Kumar, a vaccination officer said, "No one arrived. It might be because people are not aware of the vaccination programme. Moreover, it is a school day. We are expecting students to arrive for vaccination on the weekend."
The major issue with the vaccination is that each vial has 20 doses and to avoid wastage as many children should be present at a time. A similar situation was seen at Kautilya Government Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya in nearby Chirag Enclave. "There is a lack of awareness... We have asked schools to inform parents about the vaccination programme. Moreover, the CoWIN system is not updated," the official said.
Delhi reported 131 fresh COVID-19 cases and two deaths due to the viral disease on Tuesday, while the positivity rate stood at 0.42 per cent, according to data shared by the city health department.
"We are all prepared. Training has been given to the staff, vaccine doses have been received and the education department has been assisting us in the exercise," a senior official told the newswires.
The challenge would be to ensure that the beneficiary is not even a day younger than 12 years on any day of the vaccination, the official said.
The Centre had, on Tuesday, released guidelines for Covid vaccination of children aged 12-14 years and said only the Corbevax vaccine would be used for the beneficiaries in this age group.
According to it, vaccination of 12-14 years would be conducted through dedicated inoculation sessions to avoid their unintended vaccination with any other COVID-19 vaccines.