The Government of India may soon start the vaccination of children above the age of 12 years suffering from diseases. However, completely healthy children are not expected to benefit from this at the moment. According to the committee advising the government on Covid-19 vaccination, at present there are 40 crore children in the country. If everyone’s vaccination is started, then the already running 18+ vaccination will be affected.
It is necessary to vaccinate adults first, otherwise, in the coming times, a similar situation may arise in the country, when people had to wander for beds in the hospital. The Committee on Vaccination of Children has recommended that children above the age of 12 years should be vaccinated with serious diseases. The committee is of the view that not every child needs to be vaccinated before sending him to school.
Committee chairman NK Arora said that completely healthy children will have to wait for vaccination now. Arora said that by starting the vaccination of all children at this time, the ongoing vaccination campaign will lag further. And if the elderly along with the youth do not get the vaccine dose, the number of infected in the hospital will start increasing.
Which children will get the vaccine dose first
According to the advice of the committee, first those children will be vaccinated, who have serious diseases. Such as kidney transplant, children suffering from cancer disease since birth or children suffering from heart related diseases will be given priority in this.
No vaccine has yet been approved for children in India. Clinical trials of Covaccine are going on in children. Zydus Cadila’s DNA-based vaccine has been tested on children aged 12 to 17 years. The company has also applied for emergency approval of the vaccine. Apart from this, Pune-based Serum Institute of India is also conducting a 2/3 phase trial of the Kovavax vaccine on children aged 2 to 12 years.