What’s the plan on vaccines for kids, top court asks Centre

In the third wave, children are going to be affected... the vaccination process for young children has to be complete SUPREME COURT

The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the central government about its preparedness to deal with the third wave of Covid-19 pandemic, underlining that the vaccination of everyone below 18 must also be undertaken as soon as possible.

Starting May 1, anyone aged 18 or over is eligible for a Covid vaccine. Out of country’s total population of 1.3 billion, around 450 million are under 18 and, as such, not eligible for a vaccine yet. Around 160 million doses of a coronavirus vaccine have been administered so far with 30 million people, which is just a little over 2% of India’s population getting the complete two doses.

Most vaccines are not yet approved for people below 18, and Canada became the first country in the world on Wednesday to approve Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine for ages as young as 12. HT reported this week that experts have pointed to the importance of planning for the vaccination of those below 18 because there cannot be a proper opening up until the entire population is protected. The number of companies conducting trials of vaccines for children is limited and if India doesn’t move fast enough, supplies may not be available.

On Thursday, the bench of justices Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud and MR Shah sought to know from the government whether any policy was being contemplated to combat a third Covid-19 wave in the wake of expert opinions that it may affect children worse than the first two waves have.

“In the third wave, children are going to be affected. And the issue is that when they will have to be taken to hospitals and they will have to be accompanied with by their parents.

Therefore, we say that when we plan for the third stage, the vaccination process for young children has to be complete,” the bench told the solicitor general Tushar Mehta.