Over 3 lakh children registered on day 1 of COVID vaccination

According to the government portal, 3,26,591 children aged between 15-18, and eligible to get inoculated, were registered on the platform till Saturday 11:59 PM.

The guidelines by the Union Government for Covid vaccination among children state that both walk-in and online registration will be available for vaccination of children, who would start getting jabbed against Covid-19 from Jan 3 onwards.

While the registrations on Co-WIN began on Saturday, the onsite registration for children will commence from the first day of vaccination on Jan 3.

According to the Centre's guidelines, apart from government ID cards, children can also book slots for vaccination on the Co-WIN portal using their ID cards from Jan 1.

Children can also register themselves using their parents’ existing Co-WIN accounts or after creating a new account through a unique mobile number.

The Union Health Ministry had earlier said that "children born in 2007 and earlier shall be eligible to receive the vaccine".

In a televised address on Dec 25, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced that Covid vaccination for children aged 15-18 years will begin to roll out from Jan 3 while the healthcare and frontline workers will start receiving the "precautionary doses" from Jan 10.

Drug regulatory authority has granted Bharat Biotech's Covaxin for vaccination in the age group between 12 and 18 years under restricted emergency use.

Last week, the Centre advised states to establish separate dedicated Covid Vaccination Centres (CVC) for kids aged 15-18 while a separate vaccination team and separate queues are to be maintained at all other CVC.

Estimates from the Registrar General and Census Commissioner state that around 2.75 crores children, under the age group of 15 to 18 years, are eligible for the Covid vaccination programme.