Covid vaccination for children aged 12 to 14 years to begin today

Free of cost COVID vaccination for children in the age group of 12 to 14 years will begin today on the occasion of National Vaccination Day at all Government COVID Vaccination Centers. Corbevax vaccine will be administered which is manufactured by Biological E. Limited, Hyderabad.

This can be through online registration beginning at 9 AM or through an onsite walk-in. People above 60 years of age are eligible for Precaution Dose from today, as the condition of comorbidity for this age group has been removed.

The Precaution Dose is to be administered after 9 months after the date of second vaccination. Centre has sent detailed instructions and Operational Guidelines to States and UTs in this regard.

States have been advised to ensure that only those who have attained the age of



12 years on the date of vaccination are vaccinated against COVID. If the beneficiary is registered but has not attained the age of 12 years, vaccine will not be given.

Vaccinators and vaccination teams have been asked to ensure that there is no mixing of vaccines, particularly for the 12 to 14 years age group. States and UTs have been informed that at present, the age of beneficiary in CoWIN is being filtered based on Year of Birth.

The responsibility for verification of age will lie with the vaccinator at the time of vaccination for the first few days as the provision for recording the exact Date of Birth in Co-WIN portal is under process. Once implemented, the system will by default not allow registration of beneficiaries who are not of the recommended age.