The government is likely to start vaccinating children against Covid-19 by next month, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said in a BJP Parliamentary Party meeting held on Tuesday.
According to experts, this will be a giant step in breaking the chain of transmission and also reopening schools across the country amid warnings of a possible third wave of Covid.
Earlier this month, the Centre had told the Delhi High Court that Covid-19 vaccines may be soon available for children between 12 and 18 years of age and a policy on vaccinating them would be formulated after acquiring approval.
Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin and Zydus Cadila’s candidate are testing vaccines for children. The results of the Covaxin trials are expected by September, AIIMS chief Randeep Guleria has said.
On June 7, Delhi AIIMS started screening children between the age of 2 to 17 for trials of Covid-19 vaccine. On May 12, the DCGI granted permission to Bharat Biotech to carry out phase 2, phase 3 trials of Covaxin on children as young as two.
The trial is conducted by segregating children into categories according to their age, in which 175 children of each age group have been included. An interim report will be released after the completion of the second dose, which would make it clear how safe the vaccine is for children.
Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine has been tested and approved in the European Union for use in adolescents aged 12-15.
