India opens vaccination for children, booster shots for frontline workers

Amid fears of the Omicron variant virus spreading rapidly across the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that vaccinations for children aged between 15-18, and precautionary shots for the elderly will be opened up from New Year.

India has 415 Omicron cases as of today.

In an address to the nation, PM Modi said that children between 15 and 18 years will be vaccinated from January 3, 2022. He added that precautionary doses of vaccines will be given to healthcare and frontline workers from January 10, 2022. Also, citizens above the age of 60 years with comorbidites will be given shots from Jan 10, after consultation with the doctors.

PM Modi said as people prepare to welcome the New Year, it's also a time to be careful as the highly contagious Omicron variant is rapidly pushing up Covid infections across the world and in India as well.

As for children, Cadila Healthcare’s DNA vaccine has been approved for 12 year old and above.

Earlier in the day, Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin was approved by the country’s drug regulator for use in children between 12 and 18 years. The company noted that the vaccine has been formulated in such a way that the same dosage can be administered to adults and children.

On October 12, the Subject Expert Committee (SEC) that advises the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) had approved the use of Covaxin in children as young as two years and above.

The firm was asked to submit data on any adverse event following vaccination every 15-days for the next two months. The SEC had asked Bharat Biotech to continue the study according to the whole virion, inactivated coronavirus vaccine-approved clinical trial protocol.

Moreover, the firm was asked to submit safety data, including data on adverse events following immunisation (AEFI) and Adverse event of special interest (AESI) every 15-days for the first two months, and thereafter on a monthly basis.