When will COVID-19 vaccination drive for children begin in India? Know what Centre has to say

The COVID-19 vaccination drive is advancing in full force for those above the age of 18 across India, with the country just recently surpassing the milestone of administering 100 crore vaccine doses to people in less than a year.

Though the vaccination drive in India has gathered great momentum, the country is yet to roll out its first COVID-19 vaccine for children, and all those below the age of 18. Trials are being conducted by multiple pharmaceutical companies, but no definite date for the vaccination drive has been issued yet.

As the schools and colleges across the country are back to conducting offline classes for most of the students after 18 months of online classes, the prime concern for parents remains the vaccination of children, especially amid the fear of the impending third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The question still remains- when will the vaccination drive for children commence in India? To answer precisely, there is no specific window or date mentioned by the central government yet, but keeping in mind the trials being conducted in the country, the vaccination drive is expected to commence by the end of this year or the beginning of 2022.

The Centre has issued multiple statements regarding the vaccination of children, the most recent of which being that the children with comorbidities will be administered the COVID-19 vaccine on priority when the drive for those below 18 years starts.

A few days back, the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) stated that a comprehensive priority list of children with comorbidities is being prepared for the combined launch of the ZyCov-D and Covaxin shot for children in India.

As reported by India Today, Dr GV Basavaraj, Secretary-General, Indian Academy of Paediatrics said, “The vaccine data from trials on children seems to be promising. Both vaccines are made in India.”

A senior official from the DCGI announced that both the vaccines are likely to be launched together, for people in the age bracket of 2 to 17 years. The vaccines are likely to be rolled out once the broader priority list for children is prepared by both companies.

The Zydus Cadila vaccine got approved by the Drug Controller General of India for emergency usage for the age group 12 to 17 years, while Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin is still awaiting approval from the DCGI. Both the vaccines will only be included in the government vaccination drive after all the final approvals by the DCGI.

Addressing concerns, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said, “This is a sensitive matter as it deals with children; therefore, the government has been clear, and taken a stand, from the start to not interfere in the decision-making on this technical topic. Let technical experts handle it. However, according to the information that I have, the technical committee has granted its approval on the matter, and the data is being further analysed.”

Questions were raised as to why the Covaxin approval for children is taking such a long time. This is the first time that the DCGI is taking so long to approve a COVID-19 vaccine since the pandemic first hit. All six vaccines being administered in India were approved in a couple of days.