Why is pace of vaccination slowing down among kids in 15-18 age group? Know details here

Covid-19 vaccination: The pace of vaccination among children between the age group of 15-18 has slowed down considerably after reaching a 60 per cent mark. As per the data, in the last one week, about 6.2 lakh children between this age bracket were vaccinated against Covid-19 every day on an average compared to over 40 lakh per day during the first week of this month, when the vaccination for people below 19 years of age started. More than 4.5 crore got vaccinated with the first dose during this time. India is estimated to have a population of 7.5 to 8 crore people in this age group (15-18).

The progress of vaccination anyway starts slowing down once the vaccination drive reaches a certain level, so it is not entirely unexpected that this happened. The fall in the demand of vaccines for the 15-18 age group is higher than the adult population. Part of the reason for this shortfall could be the lack of urgency which could be due to the fact that the Omicron variant is not causing serious illness, especially among the young population. Also, another reason could be vaccine ineffectiveness towards preventing the infections. The demand for covid-19 vaccine is relatively stable among more vulnerable age groups. The data shows that about five to six lakh people are vaccinating themselves against the precautionary (booster) dose every day on an average.

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There are more than 10 crore people in India over the age of 60 years and over 70 per cent of them have been double-vaccinated against the deadly coronavirus. But not every one of them were immediately eligible for the precautionary dose. It is only for those who have completed nine months after the second dose of vaccine or those with comorbidities, are the ones currently receiving booster doses. This is also true to those who are getting infected during the third wave of covid-19. They will also have to wait for a few weeks after recovering to get the booster dose.

Also Read: Parental vaccination against COVID-19 protects children as well: Study

India had administered more than 165 crore doses of coronavirus vaccines, about 16 per cent of the number globally as on Friday. According to the Our World in Data project, an initiative by researchers from the University of Oxford found that more than 10 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered across the world so far. But there have been vast inequalities in the coverage of vaccination, reported Indianexpress.com.