India inoculates 3.8 million teens over fears of third COVID-19 wave

By Nikita Chaurasia  | Date: 2022-01-04

India inoculates 3.8 million teens over fears of third COVID-19 wave

India has reportedly vaccinated over 3.8 million teens aged between 15-18 years as of 3rd January in an effort to boost its inoculation drive to protect the large young population before the onslaught of a possible third wave of coronavirus infections.

Notably, the vaccine drive comes amid a drastic surge in the number of cases in cases in India, with the federal health ministry reporting as many as 33,750 new infections and 123 deaths on 3rd Jan. The total number of Omicron cases, which is rapidly becoming the dominant variant, stood at 1,700.

According to sources, teenagers were seen queuing at health centers and schools in the country as health workers gave doses of Bharat Biotech's Covaxin, which is the only vaccination approved for individuals aged below 18 years in India.

The health ministry-operated CoWIN portal reported that 3.85 million vaccination doses were given the teenagers in the age group of 15-17 years on Monday.

It is worth noting that countries such as the U.K., the United States, and South Korea have been witnessing an increasing rate of infections among children. This has led to increased promotion of vaccinations aimed at the younger generation.

Certain Indian states have set ambitious targets for the vaccine drive. For instance, Gujarat, which is Prime Minister Modi's native state, is hoping to complete the first dose of vaccines for 3.6 million teens this week.

Gujarat's health commissioner, Jai Prakash Shivahare, said that the state has sufficient capacity as well as vaccines to inoculate most of its children. He further appealed to parents to cooperate with the vaccine efforts by ensuring their children are vaccinated at the earliest.

As per India’s 2011 Census, the country’s population consists of 120 million people between the ages of 15 and 19 years, making it the largest population of adolescents in the world.

Source Credits –

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/india-launches-drive-vaccinate-children-before-feared-omicron-surge-2022-01-03/

About Author

Nikita Chaurasia     aeresearch.net

Nikita Chaurasia

An accomplished professional in the field of content development, playing with words comes naturally to Nikita Chaurasia. After completing her post-graduate MBA degree in Advertising and PR, Nikita worked across numerous content-driven verticals, undertaking diverse r...

Read More >>

More News By Nikita Chaurasia

Swiftly achieves Unicorn status with $100M Series C led by BRV Capital

Swiftly achieves Unicorn status with $100M Series C led by BRV Capital

By Nikita Chaurasia

Swiftly Systems has reportedly achieved unicorn status, securing in funding through a Series C round. The prominent BRV Capital Management led this funding initiative. According to the earlier reports, Swiftly was adopted by hundreds of consumer b...

Rainforest nations unify to demand cash for climate & biodiversity preservation

Rainforest nations unify to demand cash for climate & biodiversity preservation

By Nikita Chaurasia

As per the reports, twelve nations with rainforests united to establish a collective initiative aiming to address climate change and safeguard biodiversity at summit held in Brazil. The declaration, titled "United for Our Forests," emerged ...

AI Chatbot, Llama 2, unveiled by Meta for commercial use via Microsoft

AI Chatbot, Llama 2, unveiled by Meta for commercial use via Microsoft

By Nikita Chaurasia

Meta Platforms has recently introduced Llama 2, an artificial intelligence large language model, for commercial use in collaboration with major cloud providers like Microsoft. Instead of charging for access or usage, Meta aims to share the model with...

Moderna signs agreement to explore mRNA medicines in China

Moderna signs agreement to explore mRNA medicines in China

By Nikita Chaurasia

Moderna Inc, a leading vaccine manufacturer, reportedly announced on Wednesday that it has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) and a land collaboration agreement aimed at exploring opportunities for researching, developing, and producing...

Nike and Epic Games collaborate to launch Airphoria NFT in Fortnite

Nike and Epic Games collaborate to launch Airphoria NFT in Fortnite

By Nikita Chaurasia

The American footwear design & manufacturing company, Nike and Epic Games, the creators of the popular online game Fortnite, have joined forces in an exciting new collaboration. The partnership aims to bring about a groundbreaking change in the d...