A top official on Monday said that children in the age group of 15-18 years will be able to register on the CoWIN app from January 1, 2022, two days before the vaccination programme is expanded across the country to include them.

“We’ve added an additional (10th) ID card for registration, the student ID card, because some might not have Aadhaar or other identity cards,” RS Sharma, chief executive officer of the National Health Authority, which also operates the government’s CoWIN platform, was quoted as saying by ANI.

Also read: Gap between 2nd dose and ‘precautionary booster’ to be 9-12 months: Report

On Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that children aged 15-18 would start receiving COVID-19 vaccinations from January 3 and healthcare and frontline workers will start getting the shots as a precautionary measure from January 10 as cases of the omicron coronavirus variant rose across the country.

The Prime Minister also said those above 60 with comorbidities would be offered booster shots after recommendations from doctors.

Also read: Covaxin receives DGCI approval for use on children aged 12 to 18 years

Hindustan Times reported that Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, which has been granted approval for restricted use in an emergency situation in the age group between 12 and 18 years, is likely to be the only vaccine available for children.

Covaxin is the second vaccine after Zydus Healthcare’s ZyCoV-D that was approved for use in children aged 12 years and above.

Also read: Bharat Biotech confirms open Covaxin vials can be stored for 28 days

Dr NK Arora, chairperson of COVID-19 working group of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation in India (NTAGI), said on Sunday Covaxin has shown that it has a very good immune response in children in trials.

“In fact, it is slightly better than adults. Secondly, this vaccine is a safe vaccine, and even local effects like pain, swelling in the arms are much less as compared to adults. We would like to offer this protection to our adolescents,” Arora said in an interview with news agency ANI.