JAMMU, JANUARY 3: Lt Governor Manoj Sinha on Monday launched the COVID-19 vaccination drive for children in 15-18 age group at Government Higher Secondary School for Boys in Gandhi Nagar here.
The drive evoked good response with enthusiastic students forming queues outside vaccination centres set up in their respective schools across the UT to get the jab as for them getting vaccinated meant physically attending the classes.
Hardik, an 11th class student at Shri Ranbir Higher Secondary School in Jammu, had travelled all the way from Billawar in Kathua district, to get the first jab. “Staying at home for the last two years, I was eagerly waiting for vaccination,’’ he said, adding “on getting message from school authorities, I took the bus in the morning and reached here’’.
After getting the jab, another student Sachin Rajput, also an 11th class student at the same school, said that he felt good as getting vaccinated meant that they will soon be attending the school. The vaccination meant beginning of their classes in offline mode, he said, adding that it was good as they had been facing difficulties in attending online classes for the past two years as internet facility was not good in all areas of the UT.
The UT administration has set up an over 1,000 vaccination sites across Jammu and Kashmir to inoculate 8.33 lakh children in the age group of 15-18 years.
Officials said that while 459 vaccination centres have been set up in Jammu region including 340 in schools and 119 in Community Health Centres and Primary Health Centres, remaining 561 sites have been established in Kashmir Valley. Of them, they said that 571 have been set up in schools and the remaining in CHCs and PHCs.
The J&K government is fully prepared to vaccinate the children between 15-18 years of age and has made all the necessary arrangements for the vaccination sites where the children falling under the targeted age group will be vaccinated. The school education department has been asked to encourage the children to come forward and get vaccinated from Monday.
On December 25, Hon’ble Prime Minister, Narendra Modi announced inclusion of 15 to 18 year age group in the National Covid Immunization programme from January 03, 2022. The decision taken was based on the advice of technical experts on immunization looking into the scientific evidence generated globally on children’s vaccination against Covid-19.
The eligible teenagers will be administered only Bharat Biotech’s COVAXIN as it is the only vaccine with Emergency Use Listing (EUL) for the 15-18 years age-group and recommended by ‘Covid -19 Working Group’ of the National Technical Advisory Group on immunization.
Children taking the vaccine shot will be kept under observation for half an hour to monitor adverse effects, the same as all eligible people. They will be given the second dose after 28 days.
The facility for online registration has already been made available from January 01. Those falling under the 15-18 years age group can register online through an existing account on the CoWlN portal or can register by creating a new account by using a unique mobile number. The walk-in facility and on the spot registration at the vaccination centers will also be facilitated for such beneficiaries.