COVID-19 vaccination for children in 12-15 years group to begin this week: Official sources

Biological E's Corbevax will be administered to 12-15 years age-group.

Moneycontrol News

March 14, 2022 / 13:13 IST

The Centre is likely to begin the Covid vaccination for children in the age group of 12 -15 years this week, while the co-morbidity clause for administering precaution doses to senior citizens would be removed, official sources said on Monday. Biological E's Corbevax will be administered to 12-15 years age-group.

The National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI) is learnt to have given its recommendation to begin vaccination of children in the 12-15 years age group.

"The vaccination of children in the age group of 12 -15 years is most likely to begin from Tuesday. Also, the co-morbidity clause for administering precaution doses to those aged 60 years and above would be removed," an official source said.

The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 last year with healthcare workers (HCWs) getting inoculated in the first phase. The vaccination of frontline workers (FLWs) started from February 2 last year.

The next phase of COVID-19 vaccination commenced from March 1 for people over 60 years of age and those aged 45 and above with specified co-morbid conditions.

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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