Apollo Hospitals joins the massive vaccination drive for 15-18 year age group

New Delhi: Apollo Hospitals will begin the vaccination program for children in the age group of 15 to 18 years across Apollo Hospitals Vaccination Centres in the country from today onwards.

The vaccine administered would be Covaxin, which has received emergency use approval for use in children by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI). Covaxin would be administered in two doses at a gap of 28 days.

As per the statement issued by the hospital, this is in line with the Prime Minister’s announcement of expansion of the COVID vaccination program to include children above the age of 15 years from January 3, 2022.

Registration of children in the eligible age group and categories and/or booking of vaccination time-slots in the Apollo 24/7 app has now begun.

Apollo Hospitals’ specially trained staff will be deployed to take care of the vaccination for children above 15 years of age. All recommended Government protocols will be followed including  identity checks before administration of the vaccine shots, validation of data in Co-WIN app, observation for 30 minutes post vaccination, and AEFI (adverse effects following immunization) management if any. Proper maintenance of the cold chain for vaccine storage, and biomedical waste management will be ensured. The vaccination process will follow infection control practices including screening of all beneficiaries for fever, physical distancing, hand hygiene, universal masking, and safe injection practices.

With the administration of 23,30,706 vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 145.68 Cr (1,45,68,89,306) as per provisional reports. This has been achieved through 1,56,67,018 sessions.

10,846 patients have recovered in the last 24 hours and the cumulative tally of recovered patients (since the beginning of the pandemic) is now at 3,42,95,407.

Consequently, India’s recovery rate stands at 98.20%.