New Delhi: Children in the age group of 15-18 years will be able to register on the CoWIN app from January 1, Dr RS Sharma, CoWIN platform Chief said on Monday.
He further said student identity cards can be used to register on the portal or app if Aadhaar or other identity cards are unavailable.
"We've added an additional (10th) ID card for registration - the student ID card because some might not have Aadhaar or other identity cards", the CoWIN chief said.
Prime Minister Modi was the harbinger of much good news on Saturday night. To begin with, children aged 15- 18 can now avail of the COVID-19 vaccine from January 3. This decision, he said, had been taken in consultation with scientific advisers. Earlier in the day, the vaccine Covaxin was cleared for children above 12 by the drug regulator. The move is to be cleared by the government.
Likewise, healthcare and frontline workers will be able to take the ‘precautionary’ dose of the vaccine from 10 January. (The prime minister desisted from using the term ‘booster dose,’ preferring the word precaution instead).
Children in India will be vaccinated with one of two shots - either Bharat Biotech's double-dose Covaxin or Zydus Cadila's three-dose ZyCoV-D.
A third possible vaccine is Serum Institute's Novavax, which the national drug controller has cleared trials for kids between seven and 11 years of age. A fourth is Biological E's Corbevax, which has been cleared to conduct advanced trials on children above five.
