Vaccine Guidelines as Only Covaxin for young adults 39 week gap for precaution doses

New Delhi : The vaccination program against Kovid-19 is expanding in the country and now children of 15 to 18 years will also be given corona vaccine. In this regard, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has issued guidelines on registration and vaccination campaign on Monday. According to the new guidelines released by the Ministry of Health on Monday, starting from January 3, adolescents of 15-18 years must be born in 2007 or earlier to be vaccinated. The new guidelines come two days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a televised address to the nation, announced the government's move to expand the vaccination campaign. COVID-19 cases are on the rise in several states, apart from the rapid spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant of the virus.

For children aged 15 to 18 years eligible to receive the vaccine, the vaccine option would be 'covaccine only' as it is the only vaccine approved in India with WHO emergency use approval for the 15-18 year age group. A second vaccine, ZyCoV-D, is also approved by the national drug regulator for children 12 years of age and older. It is made by Gujarat based Zydus Healthcare. ZyCoV-D has not yet been included in the vaccination programme.

Here are the new guidelines

- Vaccination of children in the age group of 15-18 years will start from January 3, 2022. For such beneficiaries, the vaccination option would be "Covaxin" only.

For healthcare workers (HCWs) and frontline workers (FLWs) who have received two doses, the third dose will be available from January 10, 2022.

Elderly people of 60 years and above suffering from serious diseases will receive the third dose or booster dose only after 9 months or 39 weeks after the second dose, depending on the advice of the doctors. 9 months or 39 weeks will be considered from the date of the second dose of vaccine.

Features and Provisions of Co-WIN:

Health workers (HCWs) and frontline workers (FLWs) and citizens with 60+ critical illnesses can register for the third dose through their existing Co-WIN account. The eligibility of such beneficiaries will be based on the date of second dose as recorded in the Co-WIN system.

- The Co-WIN will send an SMS to such beneficiaries asking for the third dose when the dose is due.

Appointments for vaccination can be booked online or onsite.

Dr RS Sharma, Head of Cowin Platform said, "Apart from Aadhaar and other national identity cards, children can use their Class 10 ID cards for registration."