The Gujarat government will begin a special week-long campaign from January 3 to vaccinate 36 lakh children in the age group of 15 to 18 years against COVID-19, a senior official said on Saturday.
A mega drive will also be organised on January 7, with a focus on Class 10 students who will be appearing for the board exam this year, additional chief secretary (Health) Manoj Aggarwal said. The special campaign will be undertaken from January 3 to 9 at 3,500 centres prepared for the purpose from 9 am to 6 pm, Aggarwal told reporters.
Efforts will be made to ensure that no child is left behind under the mega drive, he said, after reviewing the preparations for the campaign by video-conferencing with municipal commissioners and district collectors. The aim is to cover around 36 lakh children between 15 and 18 years of age. The drive will also cover schools, it is, out-of-school children, institutions for the disabled and mentally-ill children and orphanages, the official said.
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As per the Centre's guidelines, the beneficiaries in this age group will only be administered Covaxin, and the government has adequate quantities of the vaccine available with it, he said. Registration for vaccination started from January 1, with the option of on-site registration, in which a beneficiary can either provide details of his Aadhaar card, vehicle licence, or even a mobile phone number, which could either be his own or that of his parents, friends, school teacher or principal, Aggarwal said.
A special mega campaign will also be conducted across the state on January 7, during which focus will be on children studying in Class 10, so that they don’t face any problem during their board examination, he said. The health department also has a database of 13-14 lakh comorbid adults above 60 years, frontline workers and healthcare workers for the booster dose starting January 10, for which a gap of 39 weeks is required after the second dose, the official added.
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-With PTI Inputs
