The administration of COVID-19 vaccination for teenagers between 15 and 18 in India begins today, with over 8 lakh of them having already registered for it on the CoWin portal.
As announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 25, those in this age bracket will be eligible to take only Covaxin, and it will be made available throughout the country.
Many schools will be used as vaccination centres as the programme is being carried out in consultation with educational institutions.
Those born in 2007 or earlier can either register themselves and select a vaccination centre on CoWin—the process began on January 1—or they can avail walk-in registration wherever available.
The health ministry has informed states that they can allocate vaccination centres exclusively for the 15-18 category, to prevent overcrowding at regular centres and to avoid confusion in administering the right vaccine.
States have also been asked to ensure vaccination centres maintain separate queues for those in the 15-18 age group.
While the first dose will be given from today, the health ministry said it is making arrangements for additional doses to be sent on time to the states.
Since the start of December, India has witnessed a new wave of COVID-19 cases with the rise of the Omicron variant. This is believed to have prompted the prime minister to widen the eligibility bracket for vaccination.
Mumbai alone has seen a massive spike in cases with 8,063 new infections on Sunday. Moreover, 50 new cases of the Omicron variant were reported from Maharashtra, with 510 in the state so far.
The precautionary dose for frontline workers and vulnerable senior citizens will commence on January 10.
