COVID-19 vaccination for 12-14 yr olds to begin from today; know details

Free of cost anti-COVID-19 vaccination for those belonging to the 12-14 year age bracket is all set to begin from today. The Health Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday that the government would start COVID vaccinations for 12-13 year and 13-14 year age groups after due deliberations with scientific bodies.

“The Union government, after due deliberations with scientific bodies, has decided to start the COVID-19 vaccination for 12-13 year and 13-14 year age groups (those born in 2008, 2009 and 2010 i.e. those who are already above 12) on 16th March 2022," read the statement.

The eligible beneficiaries can get vaccinated either via online registration on CoWIN (beginning at 9 am today) or through walk-in registration at vaccination centres. Biological E’s Corbevax will be used to inoculate this age group.

Corbevax is an intramuscular, two-dose vaccine that needs to be administered at an interval of 28 days, as per the ministry release.

Biological E has supplied five crore doses of the jab to the Centre and the vaccine has also been distributed to the states. As per the government sources, around 7.11 crore children will be vaccinated under the new age group.

Meanwhile, lauding India's efforts, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the country's "vaccination drive is people-powered."

"Today is an important day in India’s efforts to vaccinate our citizens. Now onwards, youngsters in the 12-14 age group are eligible for vaccines and all those above 60 are eligible for precaution doses. I urge people in these age groups to get vaccinated," PM Modi tweeted.

Top points to know 

• Those born in 2008, 2009 and 2010, i.e, those who are already above 12 years of age will be eligible for this round of vaccination, as per the government guidelines
• If a beneficiary has registered but has not attained the age of 12 years on the date of vaccination, the jab is not to be administered
• On CoWIN portal, the age of beneficiary is being filtered on the basis of the year of birth since the provision to record the exact date of birth on the portal is still under process
• Vaccination teams will have to verify the age of the beneficiary at the time of the vaccination
• Vaccinators have to ensure that there is no mixing of vaccines for this age group
• States advised to organise dedicated vaccination sessions through earmarked vaccination centres for vaccinating 12-14 years age group to avoid mixing of vaccines
• Self-registration of a family member can be done via the CoWIN portal or app or by creating a new account through a unique mobile number beginning at 9 am today
• Registration for 12-14-year-olds can also be done through onsite registration by the vaccinator via the facilitated registration mode
• Besides this, precaution dose will also be provided to all persons aged 60 years and above
• Precaution/booster doses will be administered 39 weeks from the date of receiving the second dose
• Health Ministry guidelines also state that the precaution dose with which the primary vaccination was done

How to register for COVID-19 vaccination of 12-14-year-olds via CoWIN 

(With PTI inputs)

Also read: COVID-19 vaccination for 12-14 years age group to begin from Wednesday

Also read: CoWIN registration for kids above 12 yrs begins tomorrow: Details here