PUNE: District authorities will begin the Covid vaccination of 5.92 lakh children in the 12-14 age group with the Corbevax shot from Wednesday.
For the first few days, officials said the vaccine will be available for free for all children born between March 15, 2008 and March 15, 2010 at 120 civic-run sites in the district — 29 in Pune city, three in Pimpri Chinchwad and 88 in rural Pune.
A school identity card, Aadhaar card or any document showing date of birth will be considered for vaccination, officials said. Half of the vaccine slots are available through online registration while the rest are open for walk-ins. Eligible children with special needs will be given priority during the on-the-spot immunisation process.
Pune district has received 1,02,600 doses of Corbevax, which is a two-dose vaccine given four weeks apart. Of them, Pune rural areas have received the maximum doses — 48,000. The PMC and PCMC areas have received 33,000 and 21,500 doses respectively, said Dr Sanjay Deshmukh, assistant director, health services, Pune region.
As per central data, Pune district has a total of 5,92,662 children in the age group of 12-14 years who are eligible for Corbevax. “Of the total 5.92 lakh eligible beneficiaries in the 12-14 age bracket, Pune rural has the maximum (47%) followed by PMC (32%) and PCMC (21%),” Dr Deshmukh said.
An update of the CoWIN portal is currently under way. “Once the update is done, it will only accept children born between March 15, 2008 and March 15, 2019. The portal will automatically reject vaccination of children outside this ambit,”Dr Deshmukh added.
