“Our research within the country also says that almost two-thirds of the deaths below 18 years which occurred due to COVID in India are within this age group. So, this decision was mainly taken to protect the adolescents,” said Dr. NK Arora on the implementation of vaccination drive for children.
New Delhi: A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that vaccination against coronavirus for children between 15-18 years will start from January 3, the Chairman of Covid Task Force working group, NTAGI, Dr. NK Arora has said that adolescents need to be protected as they are mobile and their risk of getting infected by the virus remains high. The task force head also added that children between the age of 12-18 years behave very much like adults and almost two-third of deaths related to Covid-19 have happened to those belonging to this age group
During an exclusive interview with news agency ANI, Arora told about the possible benefits of rolling out the vaccination for beneficiaries between 15-18 years of age from January 3. He explained, “Children between the age of 12 and 18 years, particularly those in the age group of 15 to 18 years, are very much like adults. Our research within the country also says that almost two-thirds of the deaths below 18 years which occurred due to COVID in India are within this age group. So, this decision was mainly taken to protect the adolescents.”.
Dr Arora said, “There are two other advantages of immunizing adolescents. One is that they are quite mobile, they have to go to the school colleges and their risk of getting an infection, particularly in the light of Omicron, is present.”
“Secondly, many times these adolescents get infection into their households where elderly and those with comorbidities can get infected. So, in view of all this, the country has decided to introduce vaccination for children between 15 to 18 years,” he said.
As Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has given Emergency Use Authorization for Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin for beneficiaries between 15-18 years of age, Dr Arora said that during trials vaccine has shown good immune response. Covaxin has shown that it has a very good immune response in children in trials. “The point is that we have a vaccine, which is approved for children. Covaxin has shown that it has a very good immune response in children in trials. In fact, it is slightly better than adults. Secondly, this vaccine is a safe vaccine, and even local effects like pain, swelling in the arms is much less as compared to adults. We would like to offer this protection to our adolescents,” he said.
The doctor said, “Although the disease’s effects are much milder, but as we know many schools have opened. A lot of parents are still not very confident in sending their children to schools. So this vaccination drive will also be giving confidence to them. I would say it’s a great New Year gift for our adolescents.”
In children, an immunogenicity study, not an efficacy study is present at the moment. On the efficacy of Covaxin for children, he said, “So, in children, we have an immunogenicity study, not an efficacy study. So immunogenicity means what level of antibodies are produced, and we know that there is a reasonably good relationship between antibody levels and protection. In fact, as I said, adolescents produce better levels of antibodies as compared to their adults. Here, I would also like to say that the same Covaxin dose is given to children as an adult and the interpretation between the doses is also four weeks. So as far as implementation of the programme is concerned, there is no special effort required. And immunization of these adolescents can be started within a short period without much or a specific preparation.”
The number of doses for adolescents will be the same, added Dr Arora.
The government’s decision to expand the vaccination drive came in the wake of rising Covid-19 cases linked to the Omicron variant of the virus. At present, over 61 per cent of India’s adult population has received both doses of the vaccine. Similarly, about 90 per cent of the adult population has received the first dose of the Covid vaccine. The cumulative COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country have exceeded 141 crore, according to the health ministry.
