NEW DELHI, July 30 (Xinhua) -- Indian Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Friday urged scientists to speed up the development of COVID-19 vaccine for children, saying that protecting children from the virus should be given priority.
Naidu was addressing scientists and staff of the Bharat Biotech International Limited after a visit to its plant in Hyderabad.
"The constantly mutating virus poses unforeseen challenges and forces us to find solutions that will save lives and protect livelihoods. We have to individually and collectively contribute to this national and international effort," he said.
The vice president emphasized that the ongoing vaccination drive against COVID-19 should become a pan-India movement and appealed to the people to get vaccinated.
"It is now clear that vaccination is preventing hospitalization and severe disease when infected," he said.
India's federal health minister Mansukh Mandaviya Tuesday told the lawmakers from his party that the government is likely to start vaccinating children against COVID-19 by next month.
Experts said vaccinating children will be a giant step in breaking the chain of transmission of COVID-19 infection and would help a lot in the reopening of schools across the country amid warnings of a possible third wave of the pandemic.
Last week Director of India's premier health institute - All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi Dr Randeep Guleria said the country is likely to start vaccinating children by September.
NK Arora, who heads the National Expert Group on Vaccines, has also said that vaccination for children will start by September with the Zydus vaccine for 12 to 18-year-olds.
At present India is vaccinating population above 18 years of age.
The Indian government aims to vaccinate the entire population by the end of this year. Enditem