COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 15-18 years: How to register

New Delhi, Dec 27: Children aged between 15 and 18 years would be able to register on the CoWIN portal from January 1 and the vaccine option for them would only be Covaxin, the government said in its fresh advisory on Monday.

In line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for vaccinating children, the government has now come up with fresh guidelines to administer vaccine for children.

In a fresh statement, the union health ministry said "COVID-19 Vaccination of children in the age-group of 15-18 years to be started from 3rd January 2022. For such beneficiaries, vaccination option would be "Covaxin" only.

How to register for COVID-19 vaccine for 15 to 18 years?

• All those aged 15 years or more will be able to register on Co-WIN. In other words, all those whose birth year is 2007 or before, shall be eligible.
• Beneficiaries can self-register, online through an existing account on Co-WIN or can also register by creating a new account through a unique mobile number, this facility is available for all eligible citizens presently.
• Such beneficiaries can also be registered onsite by the verifier/vaccinator infacilitated registration mode.
• Appointments can be booked online or onsite (walk-in).
• For such beneficiaries, option for vaccination would only be available for Covaxin as this is the only vaccine with EUL for the age-group 15-17.

In a surprise announcement, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that vaccination will start for the children in the age group of 15-18 years from 3 January 2022. The move is likely to aid in education normalisation in schools and will reduce the worry of the parents with school going children.

Zydus Cadila's anti-Covid vaccine ZyCoV-D is yet to be introduced in the country's inoculation programme even for adults, though it received the Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) from the drug regulator on August 20, making it the first vaccine to be administered in the age group of 12-18 years in the country.

The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) granted the EUA to indigenously-developed Covaxin for children above 12 years with certain conditions on Friday.