Photo Credit: Hanif Sindhi
With Ahmedabad reporting the most number of Covid-19 cases, the city is gearing up to vaccinate adolescents in the age group 15-18 years from January 3.
Ahmedabad registered 311 new cases during the last 24 hours as on Friday evening as the tally of active cases in Gujarat surged to 2,962.
The immunization of adolescents in the 15-18 age group is targeted to cover 2 lakh teens in Ahmedabad. “The vaccination campaign will be conducted at the civic Urban Health Centres and all the schools – government and private,” Divyang Oza, Registrar Health, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, told Vibest of India.
“For the vaccination in schools, we will create a schedule and one by one, each school will be covered. The ones willing to go to the UHC can directly get inoculated there or they can be vaccinated at schools,” said Oza.
He added, “The online registration will be available from January 1, 2022, on the CoWIN portal. They can directly approach the centres too.” The children can use either an Aadhar card or birth certificate as proof of their age.
“The system will be almost similar for the adolescent and adult group, there will be a minor change that too for administrative purposes itself,” informed Oza.
Speaking to Vibes of India, Deepak Rajguru, the spokesperson of the self-financed schools association of Gujarat, said, “According to the government guidelines, we are ready to arrange vaccination camps in the schools.”
“So far, we have been informed that the students will be able to access the vaccination camp in their schools for now and the others can go to their nearest Urban Health Centres,” he added.
“The vaccination for adolescents is a very positive decision by the government of India. Gradually, we will have to cover all the children from age 2 to 18,” said Dr Nischal Bhatt, Pediatrician, Member, Covid-19 Immunization Task Force, Gujarat.
“Until we cover the age group from 2-18, we cannot reach the high immunity level,” he added.
The children are also eager to be vaccinated. “Since a year, everyone above the age of 18 is getting vaccinated. We were not allowed into places as a vaccination certificate was necessary. I was afraid of getting infected but with the vaccination, it will help our immunity become stronger,” said Vishakha Iyer, XII student.
“I think the vaccination coverage for the age group below 18 is important and I am a bit scared about getting vaccinated as many of my older friends have been infected by Covid-19 after getting vaccinated,” said Vishesh Shah, XII student.
