Zycov-D COVID Vaccine For Children To Be Rolled Out In October; Who Will Get It First?

New Delhi: ZyCoV-D, the COVID-19 vaccine which has been approved for children in the age group of 12-17 years, will be rolled out in October.

Making the important announcement on Wednesday, head of National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI) Dr NK Arora said that the government’s working group on COVID-19 will conduct a meeting soon to chalk out a plan for introducing ZyCoV-D vaccine.

Children with comorbidities will be given priority in the nationwide vaccination drive.

According to Dr Arora, less than 1% of around 12 crore adolescents (12-18 years) in India are estimated to have comorbidities.

“Healthy children will be given vaccines only after the immunisation drive for adults is completed,” said Dr Arora.

A first-of-its-kind DNA vaccine, ZyCoV-D received emergency use approval on August 20.

It is an intradermal vaccine to be administered using a needle-free injector to reduce side-effects.