Dr NK Arora, head of NDTV’s COVID Task Force: He said that the results of the dosing test of ZyCov-D are awaited.
New Delhi:
Vaccination for children with comorbidities will begin in December followed by vaccine rollout for healthy children, in the first quarter of next year, Dr NK Arora, chairman of the country’s COVID task force, told NDTV today. Efforts are also being made to reduce the number of doses of ZyCoV-D – Zydus-Cadilla vaccine from three to two doses, he said.
Like vaccination in adults, a “priority process is in place” for the country’s 44 crore children, and a list of comorbidities is being prepared, he said.
“We’ll move in a phased manner. But eventually, I think somewhere in late December, I think we should be able to start pediatric immunizations for priority kids. And as soon as we get these done. Which ranges from 10 to 10. 15 per cent, we move on to healthy children,” Dr. Arora told NDTV in an exclusive interview.
Outlining the plan, they said that while they are waiting for the results of the dosing trial of ZyCov-D, “Covaxin has also finished the trial and we will continue till the end of December and also Covovax (from Serum Institute of India). Looking forward to finishing my pediatric trial,” she said.
Asked why officials are going ahead with ZyCoV-D or Covishield for children without WHO approval, he said, “We’ve seen the data, there are no safety concerns” because these are all inactivated vaccines.
Stating that the opening of schools is “almost like an emergency” as children are suffering from “cognitive and intellectual, physical and social developmental issues of all kinds”, Dr Arora said, “I request the entire nation to It is the state governments and the private sector schools that the schools should be open”.
“Parents should send their children because we have a good group of immunized adults. And special efforts have been made to immunize all schools and staff. Parents should see that all adults in their families Where children are going to school, they are also immunised, so that children can be kept under protection. Also … most children are already infected. So they are protected in a way.”
,