India to target children for COVID-19 vaccine from Oct -sources

A healthcare worker checks the temperature of a child during a door-to-door surveillance to safeguard children amidst the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at a village on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, India, June 9, 2021

All Indian children aged 12 or older will become eligible for COVID-19 vaccinations from next month when drugmaker Cadila Healthcare (CADI.NS) launches its ZyCoV-D product, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

The world's first DNA-based COVID-19 vaccine, ZyCoV-D won emergency authorization from Indian regulators last month. From October, the company, better known as Zydus Cadila, will produce 10 million doses a month.

The health ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The sources sought anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

The vaccine is the only one approved for children in India, which has given a total of 825.9 million doses to adults among its population of nearly 1.4 billion.

SOURCE: REUTERS / Reporting by Neha Arora and Krishna N. Das; Editing by Clarence Fernandez