A total of 33,46,000 children in the age group of 15 to 18 years are eligible for COVID-19 vaccination in Tamil Nadu. The vaccination for this age group will begin on January 3.
Chief Minister M.K. Stalin will inaugurate the vaccination for this age group at the Government Girls Higher Secondary School, Porur. Of the 33,46,000 children aged 15 to 18 years, Chennai accounts for 3,19,400 children followed by 1,61,300 children in Coimbatore and 1,41,300 children in Madurai.
The Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine has issued guidelines for vaccination of the 15 to 18 years age group. All those who are aged 15 years or more will be able to register on the Co-WIN 2.0 portal. Those born in 2007 or before are eligible for the vaccination.
The vaccine of choice, however, will be only Covaxin as this is the only vaccine with Emergency Use Listing for the age group 15 to 18 years and which has the necessary recommendation of the COVID-19 Working Group of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation, the Directorate said.
Registration for vaccine
For registration, beneficiaries can self-register online through an existing account on Co-WIN, or register by creating a new account through a unique mobile number since this facility is presently available for citizens. This online registration will be available from January 1. Beneficiaries can also be registered onsite -- walk-in. Services in the walk-in mode would be available subject to availability of vaccination slots. It is advised that beneficiaries ascertain the availability of slots for the vaccination centre of their choice on Co-WIN.
The Directorate has asked district officials to identify dedicated session sites -- earmarked COVID-19 Vaccination Centres -- for the vaccination of this age group. It must be ensured that no mixing of vaccines is done. So, preferably separate session sites should be identified. Separate queues with proper and prominent signage must be in place, and a separate vaccination team must be involved if adult vaccination is going on at the same centre.
All Deputy Directors of Health Services (DDHS) were told to instruct all block-level medical officers to prepare a micro plan enlisting the number of government, aided, private and CBSE schools, number of school children who were born in 2007 or before, number of non-school going children who were born in 2007 or before, number of RBSK and Mobile Medical Unit vehicles available. They should cover all children in the age group from January 3 to 8. Necessary steps should be taken for coverage of non-school going children or left-out children for vaccination.
List of school-going children
The Directorate has already sent a communication to the Commissioner of School Education to provide a list of children studying in government, aided, private and CBSE schools whose birth year is 2007 or before and to instruct all school authorities to provide sufficient space in their schools for vaccination and to provide space for managing adverse events following immunisation cases, if any.
The Sirectorate has asked its DDHS and corporation/municipal health officers to coordinate with district school authorities and the Social Welfare Department to ensure 100% vaccination for all children aged 15 to 18 years, both school-going and non-school going.