India: Over 30 million teens jabbed with first dose of COVID-19 vaccine

New Delhi: Since the beginning of vaccination drive for children aged between 15 and 18 years on January 3, over 3 crore (30 million) teens in this age bracket have been vaccinated with the first dose so far.

According to the CoWIN portal, as of now total 3,06,60,329 teens have been vaccinated and the numbers are increasing every minute. However, 3,21,63,781 youngsters of this age group have registered themselves for the vaccines till now.

“Great sense of responsibility & enthusiasm among Young India. Over 3 crore youngsters between the 15-18 age group have received 1st dose of the COVID19 vaccine”, said Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya in a tweet on Thursday. He also appealed to all eligible young beneficiaries to get vaccinated at the earliest.

As per an estimation, around 7.50 crore teens of this age bracket are to be administered with vaccine. Out of total, over three crore have received their first dose of the vaccine so far. As of now only Bharat Biotech’s indigenously-made ‘Covaxin’ is available for vaccinating this age group.

According to the health ministry, additional doses of Covaxin have been sent to all the states and union territories for administering the vaccine to this population category.

According to the Union Health Ministry data, over 26,73,385 precaution doses have been administered to healthcare workers, frontline workers and those aged 60 and above with comorbidities. With the administration of over 76 lakh (76,32,024) vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 154.61 crore.

Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech on Wednesday claimed that Covaxin can neutralise both Delta and Omicron variants of coronavirus.

In a statement, Bharat Biotech said, “Results from a study conducted at Emory University demonstrating that sera from subjects who received a booster dose of Covaxin (BBV152) six months after getting a primary two-dose series of Covaxin, neutralized the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron and Delta variants.”

It also mentioned that earlier studies demonstrated the neutralizing potential of Covaxin against SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern Alpha, Beta, Delta, Zeta and Kappa.

The study will be published on the pre-print server, medRXiv, shortly.Sera samples from individuals who received a booster of Covaxin were observed to be effective in neutralizing Omicron and Delta variants on a live virus neutralization assay.

The Hyderabad based company claimed that the neutralization activity of Covaxin boosted sera was comparable to what has been observed in mRNA vaccine-boosted sera against the Omicron variant and found more than 90 per cent of all individuals boosted with Covaxin showed neutralizing antibodies.

All participants received an initial two-dose schedule of Covaxin on Day 0 and Day 28.”As the dominant COVID-19 variant throughout the world, Omicron poses a serious public health concern,” said Mehul Suthar, PhD Assistant Professor, Emory Vaccine Centre who led the laboratory analysis.

Data from this preliminary analysis show individuals receiving a booster dose of Covaxin have a significant immune response to both the Omicron and Delta variants. These findings suggest that a booster dose has the potential to reduce disease severity and hospitalisations, said the statement.

“We are in a continuous state of innovation and product development for Covaxin. The positive neutralization responses against the Omicron and Delta variants validate our hypothesis of a multi-epitope vaccine generating both humoral and cell-mediated immune responses. Our goals of developing a global vaccine against COVID-19 have been achieved with the use of Covasxin as a universal vaccine for adults and children,” said Dr Krishna Ella, Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Biotech.

“The global impact of Omicron shows us that the fight against COVID-19 continues, and we are encouraged that these data demonstrate the value of Covaxin as a primary and booster vaccine. These results show how a broad-spectrum vaccine has the potential ability to address ever-shifting public health challenges such as new variants and mutations,” said Dr Shankar Musunuri, Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder, Ocugen, Inc.