AP targets first dose of CorBevax for 14.9 lakh children

Vijayawada: The Andhra Pradesh government aims to administer the Covid-19 vaccine, called CorBevax, to 14.90 lakh children aged between 12 and 14 years by taking up a special campaign in schools from March 21.

Though state health authorities started administering the Covid jab to the targeted children at Covid Vaccination Centres from March 16 in the state, they will be reaching out to the schools from Monday to administer the jab, as more number of targeted children will be available.

Health personnel including ANMs and ASHA workers under the supervision of the concerned primary health centre medical officer will administer the jab.

Health personnel in the state have administered CorBevax to nearly 45,000 children in the last two days. So far, no case of Adverse Event Following Immunisation has been noticed, indicating that there may not be any such adverse reaction after administering the jab.

However, health authorities say the medical officers will keep a watch on the children after administering the jab for some time to intervene in case of any adverse impact on them as the vaccine is new.

They say that except for mild fever for some, there may not be any major health impact on the children after getting the jab.

For the targeted children who do not go to school, the health authorities would administer the jab at PHCs. Health personnel have been entrusted with the task of identifying such children and motivating them along with their parents to take them to the PHCs for the jab.

They say that though it is a tough task, they are making all efforts to persuade parents to ensure their wards get the Covid vaccine.

With no major adverse reactions reported after the shot of new vaccine, the health authorities want to consider it on lines of the vaccine being administered for polio and DPT during the routine immunisation drive for children.

Meanwhile, the state government has arranged nearly 15 lakh doses of CorBevax to be administered to the targeted children in all districts in the state.

AP health director Dr Hymavathi said, “We will go in a slow and steady manner in administering CorBevax to the targeted children, keeping a watch on any adverse reactions, and we expect to complete giving the first dose by end of March and the second dose after 28 days.”