Comorbid Children To Be Vaccinated For COVID-19 First: Govt Official

Pediatric COVID-19 Vaccine Drive: Dr NK Arora, the head of the National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (NTAGI), stated on Sunday that children with comorbidities will be given priority for the COVID-19 vaccine when it is introduced in India. He went on to say that the remainder of the healthy children would be immunised later. He said that plans are being developed to deliver these vaccinations to children in their region, avoiding the need for them to travel.

Zydus Cadila's DNA vaccine was authorised by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) in August for emergency use in adults and children aged 12 and up. The vaccinations are now awaiting inclusion in the national immunisation programme.

In a joint survey conducted in June by the WHO and AIIMS, seroprevalence was determined to be 55.7 per cent in those under the age of 18 and 63.5 per cent in those 18 and above.

Zydus Cadila, located in Ahmedabad, produces ZyCoV-D, a needle-free vaccination. This is the only vaccination that has obtained an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for use in children aged 12 to 18.

The government will identify children who are at high risk.

The NTAGI chairman stated that the government's strategy to vaccinate children aged 12 to 18 years in the nation is aimed at identifying individuals who are most at risk of contracting the serious disease and requiring hospitalisation.

According to the NTAGI head, seropositivity data suggests a nearly identical amount of viral exposure, but symptomatic infection or severe illness in children, particularly those under the age of ten, is extremely rare.