COVID-19: India launches vaccination initiative for teens 15-18 before feared Omicron surge

India started vaccinating teens aged 15 to 18 against COVID-19 on Jan. 3 as the country quickly expands its inoculation effort to cover one of the world's largest adolescent populations. This comes amid fears the Omicron variant will drive a new surge of infections.

Schools will double up as vaccination centres for children and school authorities have been ordered to report their daily vaccination data to state authorities. Authorities in Gujarat, which is Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state, are hoping to give a first dose to 3.6 million children this week.

The government is only giving children Bharat Biotech's Covaxin vaccine as that is the only vaccine with emergency use listing for the 15-18 age group, the health ministry said last week.

Several countries including the United States, Britain and South Korea have seen infections among children fueling a rise in cases in recent weeks and have encouraged parents to get their children vaccinated.

Authorities on Monday reported 33,750 new COVID-19 cases and 123 deaths in India. The total number of cases of the fast-spreading Omicron variant detected in India was 1,700, said the health ministry.

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