India says vaccines for children as young as three to be ready within six months

A teacher offers hand sanitiser to a pupil as a precaution against Covid-19 as schools reopen in Kochi, in Kerala state, India. All photos: AP

A teacher guides a pupil to his classroom. Schools in this southern state were closed for nearly 20 months due to the coronavirus pandemic.

A school staff member gestures to parents waiting outside the gate to maintain social distancing.

A teacher guides children to their classroom.

A schoolboy waiting for classes to begin looks through a classroom window.

Students wait for classes to begin and a teacher arrives.

Child wearing masks in their classroom.

The few pupils who turned up on the opening day say prayers at a government school as schools reopened.

Teachers welcome a student at the school gate as schools reopen.

The Serum Institute of India has said it will provide a Covid 19 vaccine for children as young as three years of age within the next six months.

Chief executive Adar Poonawalla said on Wednesday that his company’s Covovax, the Indian version of the US-based based Novavax vaccine for children, is under clinical trial and will be made available next year.

The institute, based in the western city of Pune, was one of the first vaccine makers to receive the government’s emergency nod for the manufacture of Oxford-AstraZeneca's Covishield in January. It has so far produced more than 1.30 billion doses.

“We are going to be launching a vaccine in six months for children all the way down to the age of three,” Mr Poonawala said at a business summit.

“The vaccines will work and protect children … with Omicron, so far, children have not been affected very badly but there is no harm as these vaccines have been proven to be safe and efficacious,” he said.

The head of the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer said Covovax trials had shown excellent results all the way down to the age group of three.

The announcement comes at a time when schools across the country are reopening and the threat of new infections looms due to a surge in Omicron cases.

India has confirmed 60 cases of the highly infectious variant, including in cities such as New Delhi and Mumbai, since early December.

Some health experts and epidemiologists have underscored the need for vaccines to cover children. However, the government has so far only given approval to Zydus Healthcare’s ZyCoV-D vaccine for children aged 12.

In November, the country's health minister said that the government was in no rush to administer Covid-19 vaccines to children and would make a decision based on expert opinion.

The Serum Institute of India received permission to conduct phase 2 and 3 clinical Covovax trials on children between the ages of two and 17. It is currently conducting trails on 920 children between three and 17 years.