Covid-19 Vaccination: Second dose of inoculation for 15-18 age group to begin today

New Delhi: Children in the age group of 15 to 18 years will start receiving their second dose of COVID-19 vaccine from Monday, officials said. The drive to inoculate the adolescents in this age group had begun on January 3. Delhi has around 10.14 lakh beneficiaries in the age group. Till Saturday, 8,04,690 beneficiaries in the national capital have been administered the first dose.

Covaxin is the only vaccine option for the 15 to 18 year age group, according to Union Health Ministry guidelines on December 27. Last week, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had said 85 per cent of Delhi government school students have been vaccinated against COVID-19. He, however, remarked that the inoculation drive in private schools was going on at a snail's pace.

Administration of the second dose of anti-COVID-19 vaccines to eligible children in the 15-18 age group will begin from Monday in Madhya Pradesh, an official said on Sunday. Letters were written to all the district collectors in MP in this regard, National Health Mission director Priyanka Das said in an official statement.

All the eligible persons from the 15-18 age group will be given the second dose of COVID-19 vaccines from Monday, it said. Das said 36.42 lakh eligible children from this age group had received the first dose of vaccines against the target of 48 lakh.

She said that sessions for the second jab for the eligible teens will be organised in the schools, where the first dose was administered. Das said that registration for the second dose will be held on the spot.

"Those who have completed 28 days after getting the first dose will be eligible for the second dose," she said. Vaccination of the children from the 15-18 age group began on January 3 in Madhya Pradesh. The COVID-19 tally in Madhya Pradesh rose to 9,59,439 on Sunday after the addition of 9,305 fresh cases, while the death toll increased to 10,616 after nine people succumbed to the coronavirus infection in the last 24 hours, as per the state health department.