India will start vaccinating children aged 12 to 14 years from March 16 as it expands its COVID-19 vaccination coverage, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya announced on Monday. The condition of co-morbidity for people aged 60 and above to get a precautionary dose will also be removed. Everyone in that age category can now take booster shots.
“Union Government after due deliberations with scientific bodies has decided to start COVID19 vaccination for 12-13 yr and 13-14 yr age groups (those born in 2008, 2009 and 2010 that is those who are already above 12 years of age) of the population from 16th March 2022,” the health ministry said in a statement.
“The government has also decided that the condition of co-morbidity for Covid-19 precaution dose for population over 60 years of age will be removed forthwith. Hence, from 16th March 2022 onwards, the entire population above 60 years of age will be eligible for precaution dose of Covid-19 vaccine,” the statement further underlined.
India began the world’s largest vaccination programme in January last year. The first phase was for health workers and frontline workers, and the programme was then expanded to adults above 60 in March 2021, and then to all adults two months later. Amid concerns over new variants, the country began giving booster doses in January. For children, the vaccination for 15-18 age group began in January.
The country has given more than 180 crore doses of vaccines so far. After a huge surge in cases in January, driven by Omicron, the country is now witnessing a drop in cases. On Monday, only 2,503 cases were logged, the lowest daily rise in 680 days.
