Teenagers Can Register On CoWin For Jab But AIIMS Doctor Calls Kid's Vaccination 'Unscientific'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that vaccination against COVID-19 for children in the 15 to 18 age group will start from January 3. A senior epidemiologist at AIIMS who is the principal investigator of Covaxin trials for adults and children at the institute termed the Centres decision to vaccinate children against Covid unscientific and said it will not yield any additional benefit. Dr Sanjay K Rai said before implementing the decision dat...Read More
A senior epidemiologist at AIIMS, who is the principal investigator of Covaxin trials for adults and children at the institute, termed the Centre's decision to vaccinate children against Covid "unscientific" and said it will not yield any additional benefit.
Dr Sanjay K Rai, who is also the president of the Indian Public Health Association, said before implementing the decision, data from countries that have already started vaccinating children should be analysed.
In an address to the nation on Saturday night, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that vaccination against COVID-19 for children in the 15 to 18 age group will start from January 3.
This will reduce the worries of children going to schools and colleges and their parents, and boost the fight against the pandemic, he said, adding that the move is also likely to aid in the normalisation of teaching in schools.
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"I am a great fan of PM Modi for his selfless service to the nation and taking the right decisions at the right time. But I am completely disappointed with his unscientific decision on children's vaccination," Rai said in a tweet tagging the Prime Minister's Office.
Elaborating his viewpoint, Rai said there should be a clear-cut objective of any intervention. The objective is to either prevent coronavirus infection or severity or death.
"But according to whatever knowledge we have about vaccines, they are unable to make a significant dent in the infection. In some countries, people are getting infected even after taking booster shots.
"Also, 50,000 breakthrough infections are being reported per day in the UK. So this proves that vaccination is not preventing coronavirus infection but vaccines are effective in preventing severity and death," Rai told PTI.
CoWin registration, only Covaxin for children
Children between 15 and 18 can register for COVID-19 vaccines on the CoWIN app from January 1 using their school ID cards.
Prime Minister @narendramodi announces #COVID19 vaccination for youngsters of 15-18 age group from 3rd January 2022.
¡ª PIB India (@PIB_India) December 25, 2021
The move is likely to aid in education normalization in schools & will reduce the worry of parents with school-going children: PM
Read: https://t.co/LfDFwzj57h pic.twitter.com/b18swTaSKa
CoWIN chief Dr RS Sharma told news agency ANI an additional slot had been created on the online platform so students could use their ID cards to register for the shots.
For now, only Bharat Biotech-made Covaxin will be available for jabs.
Key announcements by PM @narendramodi in his address to the nation on 25th December
¡ª PIB India (@PIB_India) December 26, 2021
?Vaccination for children aged 15-18
?Precaution dose for healthcare & frontline workers
?Precaution dose for senior citizens with co-morbidities#IndiaFightsCoronahttps://t.co/LfDFwzj57h pic.twitter.com/o1lFfrsoKL
Cadila Healthcare-developed deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) vaccine ZyCoV-D ¡ª approved by the drug regulator for use in children aged 12 and above ¡ª will not be used right away to vaccinate youngsters aged 15 and above.
India is trailing several other countries - including many in Europe, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, and New Zealand - in offering Covid vaccines for kids.
The decision to start vaccinating children comes amid an alarming increase in Covid cases in schools.
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