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COVID-19 Vaccination: India to get jabs for children between 2 to 18 years by September, says Pune's ICMR

According to a latest report, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)’s National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, director Priya Abraham said that India is likely to get COVID-19 vaccine for children between 2 to 18 years of age by September.

COVID-19 Vaccination: India to get jabs for children between 2 to 18 years by September, says Pune's ICMR
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According to the latest report, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)’s National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, director Priya Abraham said that India is likely to get COVID-19 vaccine for children between 2 to 18 years of age by September.

Currently, the Phase II and III trials of Covaxin for paediatric use is underway on children.

IN India, there are two vaccines that are being tested among children: Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin and Zydus Cadila’s ZyCov-D. The Covaxin trial includes 525 volunteers while ZyCov-D’s trials – as part of the phase II/III clinical studies – includes 1,000 volunteers in the 12-18 age group.

Responding to whether the available vaccines are effective on the Delta-plus variant, Abraham said this variant is less likely to spread than the Delta variant itself. 

The antibodies produced in the bodies of vaccinated people were checked against this variant and it was found that the efficacy of antibodies was reduced two to threefold. The vaccines are still protective against variants. So, whatever the variant, the vaccine is till now protective against all, including the Delta variant. So, there should not be any hesitancy at all, she added.

Meanwhile, talking about the mix and match theory, Priya said that those samples were tested at NIV and found that the patients were safe. No adverse effect was noted, and immunogenicity was a little better. NIV is studying this phenomenon and will be able to give more details in a few days’ time.

Moreover, reports suggested that the trials of Covovax will also resume soon on children.

The NIV is a body under the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) under the Ministry of Health.

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