DNA Exclusive: Time to vaccinate children against COVID-19

New Delhi: India’s vaccination against COVID-19, the largest inoculation drive in the world, began on January 16 this year and in just 345 days, the country has successfully vaccinated 61% of its eligible population and, moreover, the nation is gearing up to inoculate children in the second phase. The rollout of vaccination for the population aged 15-18 will start from January 3, 2022.

Zee News Editor-in-Chief Sudhir Chaudhary on Monday (December 27) addressed a pertinent and common concern among parents- Should we get our kids vaccinated?

This question arises because children have been the least affected groups since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccine hesitation has been a cause of concern in India.

However, Zee Media believes that one must only believe health experts, scientists and agencies. The medical bodies of the country say that both these vaccines are safe for your children.

Proper testing and trials have been conducted on the vaccine and its effect on the kids. The results of the final trial of Covaxin came in August this year and came out to be safe for use in children.

Readers must also note that India is not the only country where the vaccine is being given to children below 18 years of age. In fact, nations like the US, Canada and Italy are already vaccinating children 5 and above. In Indonesia, South Korea andAustralia, 6 years old are being inoculated while the UK, Philippines, Brazil, Colombia, Spain, Greece, Ireland os vaccinating 12 years.

About the process of vaccination for kids in India, Zee Media found that the vaccine will be available free of cost and since only Covaxin will be administered to this age group, the gap between the doses is likely to be 28 days.

Meanwhile, it has also been discussed as to how long will India take to vaccinate the 15-18 age group. So, at present, Indian adults are getting vaccinated at the rate of 3 million doses per day and if we go by this logic, the country will be able to vaccinate kids aged 15-18 in 33 days.