NEW DELHI: With schools reopening, it has become an important task for the government to vaccinate children of the 15-17 age group. According to officials in Delhi government’s health department, the maximum vaccination camps were set up in government schools where teenagers were jabbed.
Vaccination for this age group that began on January 3, has witnessed a total of 10,41,887 teenagers who were administered both Covid doses so far. Till February 10, 8,73, 560 teenagers received their first dose.
This age group are being administered Covaxin, a two-dose vaccine, with each jab to be taken at least 28 days apart.
The maximum first dose of the vaccine has been given in the South West district with 1,17,984 followed by the North West district with 1,13,439. Maximum number of second doses were given in North East district with 37,530 teenagers fully jabbed followed by 25,984 teenagers in South West district.
“These districts are densely populated with a large number of schools and residential areas, and this is why we were able to attain the highest number of the vaccinations,” said an health official. New Delhi district had the lowest number of first doses with 52,728 teenagers. While the Central Delhi district got the lowest in second dose vaccinations with just 11,395 teenagers inoculated.
“Initially, we did not focus more on private schools but we collaborated with both government and private schools; however, a majority of private institutions did the vaccination of their students on their own,” said an official working with the health department of the Delhi government. Street children are also being inoculated in the drive, the official added. Children who fell sick in the Omicron wave, can get vaccinated after three months.