India News | Kejriwal Expresses Happiness over DCGI's Approval to Covid Vaccines for Children Below 12 Years
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday expressed happiness over the decision of country's drug regulator to allow emergency restricted use of Covid vaccines to children above five years of age, and congratulated scientists for the feat.
New Delhi, Apr 26 (PTI) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday expressed happiness over the decision of country's drug regulator to allow emergency restricted use of Covid vaccines to children above five years of age, and congratulated scientists for the feat.
Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has granted restricted emergency use authorisation for Biological E's COVID-19 vaccine Corbevax for those aged five to 12 years and Bharat Biotech's Covaxin for children in the age group of six to 12 years.
"It is a matter of happiness that now children above six years of age will also be able to get the corona vaccine. Many congratulations to the scientists of the country. Our scientists have done a wonderful job in the fight against Corona," Kejriwal said in a tweet in Hindi.
India began inoculating children aged 12-14 years on March 16 this year.
Biological E's Corbevax is being used to inoculate children against COVID-19 in the age group of 12 to 14 years while Covaxin for the age group of 12 to 18 years.
Earlier approved for children 12-18 years of age, Covaxin has proven to be safe, well-tolerated, and immunogenic in paediatric subjects in phase II/III study in children 2-18 years of age, Bharat Biotech said in a statement.
The approval by the DCGI for Corbevax and Covaxin for inoculating children below 12 years paves the way for giving protection to a majority of school going children and assumes significance ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting with chief ministers on the emerging COVID-19 situation in the country on Wednesday through video conferencing.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)