New Delhi, January 3: COVID-19 vaccination for the 15-18 age group began on Monday morning across the country.

CoWIN registration for the age group had already begun on Saturday. As many as 12,57,603 children in the 15-18 age group have registered so far on CoWIN platform to get vaccinated.

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As per Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain, the national capital has the capacity to vaccinate 3 lakh children falling in the age group of 15 to 18 years every day.

COVID vaccination centres in Delhi have been set up in government hospitals, dispensaries, polyclinics and schools run by the Delhi government and municipal corporations.

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"I got my vaccination registration done online yesterday. Apart from the vaccination, we need to be extra careful and alert for our own safety," said a teenager after getting vaccinated in Delhi's Dr RML Hospital.

"Children are excited to take the vaccine. All the children are being kept in the observation room for 30 minutes," said Jyoti Grewal, vaccinator at Rajkiya Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya, Laxmi Nagar.

Similarly, a vaccinator at a Government Model Senior Secondary School in Chandigarh said, "All arrangements are in place and dose supplies are adequate."

Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath visited one of the centres in Lucknow to lunch the vaccination drive and said, "There are 1.4 crore children in the age group of 15-18 in the state. 2,150 booths have been set up across the state to vaccinate the children."

"We've made a micro plan as per which we'll vaccinate 600 students above 15 years of age with COVAXIN," says Dr Rajnikanth Contractor, Medical Officer-In-Charge of Chandlodiya Urban Health Center, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation.

The vaccination drive is also witnessing active participation in Jammu and Kashmir as students are visiting their schools turned into vaccination centres since morning.

PM Modi on December 25, 2021, had announced that the vaccination for the age-group 15-18 years is scheduled to begin from Monday while administration of precautionary third dose for the vulnerable categories is to commence from January 10, 2022.

In the context of the vaccination of the age group 15-18 years, the Union Health Secretary informed the States and UTs that only 'Covaxin' is to be administered in this population category and additional doses of 'Covaxin' will be sent to all states and UTs.

Those with the birth year of 2007 or before will be eligible for vaccination under this category.

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