DCGI has also granted emergency use authorisation to ZycovD (Zydus Cadila vaccine) for children above the age of 12 years and emergency use authorisation to Corbevax for children between the age of 5-12 years, the news agency has said in a series of tweets.
Meanwhile, an official statement on this is awaited.
With this parents can heave a sigh of relief as schools have already reopened and currently, kids below 12 years of age are yet to be vaccinated. Reports of students contracting the infection and the rising cases of COVID in the country, especially in bigger cities, has been a reason to worry.
What is emergency use authorization?
Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) is a regulatory mechanism to allow the use of vaccines and medicines to prevent and/or reduce the impact of life- threatening diseases or conditions as caused by COVID-19.
Before any vaccine or medicine is granted emergency use authorization, , there are rigorous assessments of laboratory and clinical trial data, including data on quality, safety, production of protective antibodies and efficacy.
This not a new concept developed for COVID vaccines; these authorizations were granted earlier as well to to save the lives of people all over the world with vaccines and medicines for life-threatening diseases while companies continue to obtain additional safety and effectiveness information to enable full licensure.
This is like an interim approval. The final approval is given after the completion of trials and after the data of trial is fully analysed. In India, vaccines and medicines are used only after they are approved by the regulatory authority which is the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO).
COVID in kids
COVID in kids has been rising. Schools have reopened and COVID cases are rising. Though fewer COVID cases in kids have been reported, parents are worried that these numbers can snowball very quickly as it was seen in the last three waves of the infection.
COVID infection waves have been merciless. Within no time a new variant takes over the previous one crippling hospitalisation and medical facility.
Though the severity of the COVID during the Omicron wave was the least, partly due to vaccination as told by health experts, the risk factors can not be ruled out completely at this stage of the pandemic.
Kids, school going ones especially, need to be vaccinated at the earliest. The education of these students has been hit the most. For the last two years, kids have been learning through patchy internet. As per UNICEF the basic literary skills of students has suffered a major hit during the lockdown.
Common COVID symptoms in kids
The common COVID symptoms in kids are: Fever, Cough /Difficulty in breathing, Loose motion, Sore throat, Rhinorrhea/nasal block, body ache, loss of smell and taste.
"Fever and cough are common COVID-19 symptoms in both adults and children; shortness of breath is more likely to be seen in adults. Children can have pneumonia, with or without obvious symptoms. They can also experience sore throat, excessive fatigue or diarrhea," experts at John Hopkins have said.
Few common questions related to COVID vaccination in kids answered:
- Which vaccines have been approved for kids against COVID?
Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin and Biological E’s Corbevax, Zydus Healthcare’s ZyCoV-D have been approved for kids. - Where can kids get vaccination?
For vaccination, registration can be done at CoWIN portal or AarogyaSetu or UMANG platform Slots have to be booked as per age, cost of vaccine and type of vaccine. - What are the documents required for vaccination?
Children above 12 years and below 18 years should carry aadhaar card, PAN card, passport ration card with photo, student ID card or Unique Disability Identification Card (UDID) for vaccination.
