COVID-19 update | 82% adolescents vaccinated with first dose in Delhi

According to official data, 8.33 lakh adolescents have received the first dose and 0.39 lakh have been jabbed with the second dose.

PTI

February 05, 2022 / 19:14 IST

COVID-19 vaccination for children in the 15 to 18 age category began on January 3. (Image: ANI)

With schools gearing up to reopen for classes 9 to 12 from Monday, authorities have inoculated 82 per cent adolescents in Delhi with the first dose since the exercise to vaccinate them against coronavirus commenced from January 3. According to official data, 8.33 lakh adolescents have received the first dose and 0.39 lakh have been jabbed with the second dose.

Delhi has around 10.14 lakh beneficiaries in the 15-18 age group. According to officials, 95 per cent of government school students have been vaccinated, while 73 per cent students of aided school students have received at least one dose. Sixty-two per cent private school students have been inoculated with at least one dose.

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The maximum number of adolescents have been inoculated with the first dose in southwest district at 1,12,521 followed by northwest at 10,87,99 and west at 84,958. The least number of adolescents have been inoculated with first dose in New Delhi at 49,631.

The maximum number of adolescents have received the second dose in northeast Delhi followed by southwest district at 5,716. The government has achieved 109 per cent inoculation with first dose, while 84 per cent inoculation has been achieved for second dose.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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