Maharashtra govt seeks 40 lakh more Covaxin doses

PUNE: The Maharashtra government has sought from the Centre additional 40 lakh doses of Covaxin to speed up inoculation of its 60 lakh beneficiaries in the 15-18 years category at 1,600 vaccination hubs across the state in January.

The state already has 40 lakh doses of Covaxin at its disposal. “The regular supply of Covaxin from the Union government will begin now. We have furnished the requisition for an additional 40 lakh doses of Covaxin to speed up the vaccination of the newly added age group this month,” said state immunization officer Dr Sachin Desai. The two doses of Covaxin are administered 28 days apart to achieve full immunization.

Child specialists and paediatric task force experts in Maharashtra have been urging the Centre to expedite inoculation of children considering how Omicron, the new variant of

Covid

, affected children after senior citizens in countries such as South Africa. “While children, by and large, have only a mild disease themselves, a small number of them may get sick enough to require hospitalization. This has been lately seen in South Africa. The vaccination can mitigate the severity of disease in children so that they can be managed at home. This will prevent a load on the health services,” said

Dr Pramod Jog

, a child specialist and task force member.

Elaborating on infrastructure capabilities, Dr Jog said, “Covid vaccination of children in the 15 to 18 years age bracket can be handled easily with the current vaccine infrastructure,” he said.

Though the serosurvey pointed to some seropositivity in children as well, it is important to prioritize vaccination for children in the age group of 12-18 years. Children between the age of 12 and 18 years, particularly those in the age group of 15 to 18 years, are very much like adults.