Kozhikode has close to two lakh people in the 15-18 age group who are scheduled to start getting the COVID-19 vaccine from January 3. Health workers, frontline workers as well as those aged above 60 with co-morbidities will get “precaution doses” from January 10 too.
The government is likely to give priority to children’s vaccination after January 2. Only two vaccines are approved by the Centre for this age group now: ZyCoV-D produced by Zydus Cadila and Covaxin produced by Bharat Biotech. The former has three doses and the latter two. Health Department sources indicated that Covaxin was likely to be the choice since there is some uncertainty over procuring ZyCoV-D.
In Kozhikode district, the target group is over 1.9 lakh people. There are around 5 lakh people aged above 60 and close to one lakh healthcare workers as well, said the sources. The “precaution” doses would be given only nine months after getting the second dose. The process would start on January 10. People aged above 60 may have to produce medical certificate to prove their condition.
Meanwhile, 24,26,157 people aged above 18 in the district have so far received the first dose of the vaccine and 18,13,725 have got the second dose. There are 24,99,523 people aged above 18 here.
The sources said that the health condition of children might be examined before administering the injection. The authorities are exploring the possibility of holding camps in schools. However, it is learnt that they are awaiting a directive from the Union Health Ministry before taking a final decision. The effort would be to complete the process as soon as fresh stock arrives from the Centre.
