Vaccination of children aged 12 to 14 years and administration of booster doses to everyone aged 60 or above will start in Bengal on Monday, the state health department said in a notification on Thursday.
Two doses of Biological E’s intramuscular vaccine Corbevax will be administered to children between 12 and 14 years at an interval of 28 days.
For now, the Corbevax doses will be administered at government vaccination centres only, the notification said.
“If schools approach us for vaccination at their sites, we will provide the facility if they have the infrastructure,” said a health department official.
There are approximately 30 lakh children in the 12-14 age group in the state, according to government records.
The Telegraph gives a ready reckoner.
12-14 age group
- Beneficiaries can register through an existing CoWIN account of a family member or create a new account with a “unique” mobile number, not already in use.
- Appointment for vaccination can be booked online or by walking into a vaccination centre
- Vaccination for children aged 12-14 will be done at “earmarked centres only for the 12-14 age group” to avoid “unintended” clubbing with other Covid jabs
- “Vaccinator has to ensure that the vaccine is administered to only those children who have completed the age of 12 years on the date of vaccination and if a child is registered but has not attained the age of 12 years, the vaccination is not to be given,” the notification said
- As the 12-14 age group mostly comprises schoolchildren, complementary strategies may be formulated to ensure vaccination of all eligible beneficiaries in this age group, irrespective of whether they are enrolled in state/central government schools, aided/unaided private scho-ols or madarsas, etc
- Students can carry any one of these identity cards for CoWIN registration at vaccination centres — Aadhaar/ school ID/ration card/unique disability ID/bank passbook/passport
- Separate Corbevax vaccination centres will be set up for “out-of-school” and “school dropout” children.
60 and above
- Booster doses will be provided to all persons aged 60 years and above and the prioritisation and sequencing of the dose will be based on completion of nine months — 39 weeks — from the date of administration of the second dose. Earlier, only senior citizens with comorbidities were eligible for the booster shot
- The guidelines said the vaccine with which the primary inoculation (first two doses) was done will be given as the booster dose.
