Corona vaccine can now be administered to children in the country as well. The central government has approved indigenous covaccine for the vaccination of children in the age group of 2 to 18 years. According to the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI), two doses of the vaccine will be given. However, its detailed guideline is yet to be released. The Subject Expert Committee of DCGI will also give information about the process of vaccinating children and the difference between two doses.
At present, three vaccines are being administered to adults in the country. Covaxin, Coveshield and Sputnik-V. Of these, Covaxin has been made by Bharat Biotech. The Serum Institute, which manufactures CoveShield, is also preparing to make Kovovax, a children’s vaccine. At the same time, the clinical trial of Zydus Cadila’s vaccine Zykov-D has been completed. He is awaiting approval. It can be used for adults as well as children.
Approval of Covaxin after three phase trial
The DCGI’s Subject Expert Committee recommended a trial of Covaxin on children on May 12 following warnings of a third wave. Considering this, DCGI had approved the trial. Bharat Biotech started trials of Covaxin on children in June. Covaxin has been approved for use on children after a three-phase trial. After similar trials in different countries of the world, the vaccine has been approved for children.
- Moderna’s vaccine was tested in Europe on 3,732 children aged 12 to 17 years before being approved for children. The results of the trial revealed that the vaccine produced antibodies in children at the same level as adults. During the trial, 2,163 children were given the corona vaccine and 1,073 a placebo. Of the 2,163 children who were given the vaccine, none got corona and no serious side effects.
- The Chinese vaccine CoronaVac has also been found to be effective on children aged 3 to 17 years. The company had tested the vaccine on more than 550 children in two phases. The company said that only two children involved in the trial had high fever after vaccination. No side effects were seen in any of the others. Antibodies were also produced in 98% of children after vaccination.
- Pfizer conducted a trial on 2,260 children aged 12 to 15 years to find out the effectiveness of its vaccine on children. Of these, 1,131 were given the vaccine and the remaining 1,129 were given placebo. No serious side effects were seen in any of the 1,131 children who took the vaccine. After the results of the trial, Pfizer said that its vaccine is 100% effective in children.
In which countries is the vaccine being given to children right now?
- The United States has started applying Pfizer’s vaccine to all children over the age of 12 from May. By next year, children under the age of 12 may also start vaccination.
- The European Union approved Moderna’s vaccine for children on 23 July. Moderna’s vaccine will be administered in the European Union to children aged 12 to 17 years.
- On 19 July, the UK allowed children up to 12 years of age to receive the Pfizer vaccine. However, at present the vaccine is being given only to children with Morbidity. Moderna’s vaccine is also likely to get approval by September.
- Israel has also started vaccinating all children up to the age of 12. Israel started vaccinating children up to the age of 16 in January. In June, to increase the scope of vaccination, the vaccine was started for children up to 12 years of age.
- Canada is one of the countries where children were first introduced to vaccination. Canada approved the Pfizer vaccine for all people up to the age of 16 in December 2020. In May, the scope of vaccination was expanded to include children up to 12 years of age.
- Apart from this, many small countries like Malta, Chile have also started vaccinating children. These countries have vaccinated a large part of their population and now children are also being included in the vaccination program to vaccinate the entire population.
