Bhushan also said that 52 per cent of children in the 15-18 age group in the country have been vaccinated so far.
At present, the State has 7.05 lakh healthcare and frontline workers and around 10.47 lakh people above 60 years with co-morbidities, said the top health official.
The DCGI gave its approval Friday, the source said.
Globally, the supply of vaccines has outmatched the demand and to keep up with the momentum, countries need to join and form some agreement in order to prepare standard rules for clinical trials and manufacturing of the vaccines.
Further, Poonawalla said there was enough data to show that the vaccines will work and protect the children against the infectious disease.
Health Canada data show that as of August 21, 76.9 per cent of adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 had received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine and 63.57 per cent were fully vaccinated with two doses.
The results of Phase II and III trials of COVAXIN are going on for children in the age group of 2-18 years. So, by September or just after it, we may have COVID-19 vaccines for children, said Priya Abraham, Director of ICMR-NIV
The Centre said the vaccination is its top most priority and all efforts are being made to achieve " an objective of 100 percent vaccination in the shortest time possible keeping the available resources in mind and availability of vaccine doses into consideration".
Novavax Inc had announced that NVX-CoV2373, its recombinant nanoparticle protein-based Covid-19 vaccine, demonstrated 100 per cent protection against moderate and severe disease, 90.4 per cent efficacy overall.
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