NEW DELHI:
A decision on vaccinating children aged 5-12 years will be taken on the basis of the recommendation by an expert committee, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Thursday.
According to sources, the issue may be discussed in a meeting of National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) scheduled on Friday.
“The decision (on vaccination for 5-12 age group) will be taken on the basis of the recommendation of an expert committee,” Mandaviya told reporters.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi in an interaction with chief ministers on Wednesday had said that the government’s priority is to vaccinate all eligible children at the earliest with “special campaigns” in schools.
India’s drug regulator, DCGI, had on Tuesday granted emergency use authorisation for Biological E’s Covid-19 vaccine Corbevax for those aged five to 12 years and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin for children in the age group of six to 12 years.
Corbevax is currently being used to inoculate children against Covid-19 in the age group of 12 to 14 years.
Covaxin had been granted Emergency Use Listing (EUL) by the DCGI for 12-18 age group on December 24, 2021.
India began inoculating children aged 12-14 on March 16.
Meanwhile, India on Thursday reported 3,303 fresh cases that took its tally to 4,30,68,799, while the active cases increased to 16,980, according to Union health ministry data.
The daily cases crossed the 3,000-mark after 46 days.
The death toll climbed to 5,23,693 with 39 more fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.
The active cases comprise 0.04 per cent of the total infections. The national recovery rate stood at 98.74 per cent, the ministry said.
An increase of 701 cases has been recorded in the active caseload in a span of 24 hours.
The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.66 per cent and the weekly positivity rate was recorded at 0.61 per cent, the ministry said.