GUWAHATI: Assam has set an estimated target of inoculating 18.25 lakh teens between 15 and 18 years of age as the children vaccination drive is set to roll out in the state early next month with the Covaxin doses available in the state.
About 80% of the children to be vaccinated in Assam are enrolled in schools and colleges, which can be easily reached, health department sources said. However, bringing dropouts for vaccination is going to be the biggest challenge as their data may not be available with the educational institutions.
Besides the existing Covid vaccination centres, school campuses may be selected for the new vaccination drive for children. The state health department is waiting for Tuesday's video conference with the Centre to finalise the policy for vaccinating children below 18 years. A senior official of the health department told TOI that Bharat Biotech's Covaxin is adequately available to be administered among children in the state and is likely to be the only option in the initial days.
"In order to roll out Covid vaccination for children, the same Covaxin doses that are being administered among adults will be used for the children. Zydus Cadila's ZyCoV-D vaccine has got approval in the country for administration among the children but till now it has not been made available in Assam. Health staff in Assam are, however, equipped and trained to administer ZyCoV-D," the official said.
In Assam districts, 42 lakh Covid vaccine doses are currently in stock, whereas in the state vaccine store in Guwahati, 24 lakh more doses have been kept for future use as of Monday. Out of this overall stock, health department sources said 13.84 lakh are Covaxin, which come be handy while vaccinating children. "Assam is unlikely to get new vaccine consignments in December but fresh stocks will arrive in January to expedite the children's vaccination," the official added.
The latest vaccination target for the above-18 age group is 2.33 crore. After those above 15 are included, the target has gone up to 2.51 crore from January 3. "If vaccines continue to be available on time, 18-lakh target for 15-18 age group can be achieved in 15 days," he said.
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