Vaccination for children in the 15 to 18 age group begins from today amid a surge of Covid-19 cases across the country.

Over 8 lakh children have registered with the government's CoWin portal for getting a dose of the Covaxin vaccine.

The vaccination drive is being carried out at hospitals and health centres, but a large number of schools and other educational institutions are also being used as vaccination centres to cover a larger number of children.

The Union Health Ministry has decided that only Covaxin will be administered to teens and adequate doses of the vaccine will be sent to all states and Union Territories.

Since schools and colleges have opened earlier this year, a substantial section of children and teens have contracted the virus. Several outbreaks have been reported from residential schools and college hostels.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced on December 25 that vaccination for the 15-18-year age group will begin from January 3. He had also announced the administration of a third “precautionary dose” of the vaccine for health and frontline workers will begin from Jan 10. The third jab for senior citizens with co-morbidities will also be covered in this campaign.

The clearance from the government came as fresh cases of Covid are surging in the country amid the outbreak of the highly transmissible Omicron variant that is sweeping across Europe and the US.

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