The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is ready to begin a Covid-19 immunisation programme for 33 lakh children aged 2 to 17 years old, according to Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar. Still, it is awaiting orders from the national government. “Vaccination will begin once the central government issues instructions and the requisite supply of vaccinations for this age group is received,” Pednekar said in a press conference on Monday.
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Since the beginning of the pandemic last year, 49,743 infections have been reported among children and adolescents, with 13,947 under nine and 35,806 between the ages of ten and nine. In June of this year, a serosurvey of 2,176 youngsters in Mumbai revealed that 51.18 per cent of them had been exposed to Covid-19, with the majority staying asymptomatic.
The 10-14 age group had the highest seropositivity (53.43 per cent), with at least 560 samples collected. The 15-18 age group came in second (51.39 per cent). Seropositivity was 51.04 per cent in children aged 1-4 years and 47.33 per cent in children aged 5 to 9.
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Currently, Mumbai has 325 vaccination centres, with 97 per cent of eligible individuals receiving a single dose and 55 per cent receiving a complete vaccine. According to the BMC, 1.34 crore individuals have received at least one dose of the vaccine, with 48.33 lakh having received both doses.
