COVID 19 VACCINE FOR CHIDREN IN INDIA

I wrote this post in JUNE,2021. That means, it is an outdated post. Indian govt has approved covid 19 vaccine for children on January 2022. the timeline is given below-

1. January 3, 2022-  covid19 vaccination with covaxin for children 15-18 yr started.
2. March 16, 2022-  vaccination by corbevex for 12-14 years started.

no serious adverse effect noted till now.

Although India has not approved any vaccine for use in children, many countries have already started vaccinating children against covid 19 or have recently approved vaccination.

For example-

USA –  From the second week of May, the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine is being used for vaccinating all children 12-15year( previously it was approved for use in 16 years or older).  

CHINA-Coronavac, the vaccine produced by Chinese firm Sinovac got approval for use in all children 3-17 years in the first week of June.

GERMANY- Pfizer vaccine is approved for children in the age group 12-18 years.

UK- Approved up to 16 years(Pfizer).

FRANCE-  Vaccination in the 12-18 year age group started on June 15.

ITALY -Pfizer vaccine is being used in children 12 years or older since May. 

Many other countries have started vaccinating 12-18 year-age group children or will begin shortly.

In India, no vaccine is approved for use in persons below 18 years of age. Multiple vaccines are in different phases of the trial. Considering the risk of the third wave of coronavirus they may get emergency approval before trials are completed.

1. COVAXIN: Phase 2/3  trial is going on in multiple institutes.

Age group 12-18 years- trial commenced on 2nd June( all participants have received the first dose).

Age group 6-12 years- trial has begun from 15th  June.

Age group 2-6 years- not started yet.

     2.ZyCoV-D: Phase 2 trial in adults and children 12-18 years completed.  Phase 3 trial is going on. May get emergency approval for use in children 12-18 years very soon.

Some other vaccines that will be on trial in children

1. Bharat Biotech’s nasal vaccine (BBV154)- adult trials are going on.
2. NOVAVAX-Serum Institute of India will begin Novavax vaccine trials on children in July.

I think we will start vaccinating 12-18 years old children with Covaxin or ZyCoV-D soon(maybe in late July/August). Vaccination of younger children(below 12 years) will start later.