Children's vaccination: 8 lakh teens registered for first jab on CoWIN

Amidst a surge in Covid-19 cases following New Year's celebrations, India has now begun vaccinating its first batch of children aged 15-18 across the country. Over 8 lakh children born in 2007 onwards have registered to get their first shot of the approved Covaxin shot as the central government hopes to curb Covid-19 during school re-opening season.

Children were allowed to register on the vaccination portal using their Aadhar card, or in cases where that was not available, school ID card.

The Union Health Ministry has said only Covaxin will be administered to teens and additional doses of the vaccine will be sent to all states and Union Territories. Additional vaccines like Corbevax and Zydus Cadila's nasal vaccine are also being considered for administration although they are awaiting approval.

Mumbai, the financial capital of the country, has set up dedicated vaccination centres in nine of its jumbo centres to ensure a speedy pace where a walk-in facility will be available. These include Richardson and Cruddas Centre at Byculla, the NESCO jumbo centre at Goregaon amongst others the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.

Schools and colleges are also being used as vaccination centers across the country. Since schools and colleges have opened earlier this year, a substantial section of children and teens have contracted the virus. Several outbreaks have been reported from residential areas.

The Union Health Ministry has reported the administration of 23,30,706 vaccine doses in the last 24 hours. India's COVID-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 145.68 crore as per provisional reports till 7 AM today.