KOLKATA: A day after the PM’s announcement on the next phase of vaccine rollout, the state health department is gearing up to inoculate around 50 lakh eligible children in the age group of 15-18 years.
The inoculation drive for this age group begins in just about a week from January 3. This apart, around five lakh frontline workers, over seven lakh healthcare workers and about 1.1 crore senior citizens in the state will be eligible to receive the ‘precaution dose’ from January 10.
While the detailed guidelines on vaccination of children as well as the third dose for adults are yet to be issued by the Union health ministry, the state health officials have done the basic number-crunching.
“Our data on children eligible for the vaccine and adults for the third dose is ready,” said state family welfare officer Ashim Das Malakar, who is in charge of the overall vaccination programme in Bengal. “Vaccine supply should no more be an issue and we have sufficient infrastructure. Our preliminary preparation is also on. We only need the detailed guidelines from the Centre to finalise the rollout,” he said.
Even though two vaccines — ZyCov-D and Covaxin — have received emergency use nod for children above 12 years in India, the drive for kids will begin only with Covaxin. The state currently has 50 lakh doses of Covaxin in its kitty.
‘Expect younger kids to be included in phases’
Earlier, the Centre had set aside one lakh doses of ZyCoV-D for Bengal for a pilot launch on adults.
But since the launch has been put on hold, these doses have not been handed over to the state but are kept at the central vaccine warehouse in Hastings.
“Getting children into the vaccination drive is a welcome move. But I would have expected the drive to begin with children above 12 years of age. But then there would be logistics issues. Hopefully,
be included in phases,” said senior paediatrican Apurba Ghsoh, director, Institute of Child Health Kolkata.
For booster doses, there is still is no clear guideline on the time gap between the second dose and the third dose.
Of the total 1.1 crore senior citizens in the state, over 80 lakh have already taken both shots of the vaccine and a majority of them would have some comorbidity and will require the booster dose, the health officials pointed out.
