COVID-19: Vaccination for 15-18 age group begins in Agra; city reports 33 new cases

Vaccination of children, aged 15 to 18, against the coronavirus began on Monday in Agra, even as the district recorded 33 new cases, officials said.

''There are 32 centres for the vaccination of children in Agra city and in rural areas of the district. They can book their slots using the CoWIN portal,'' Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Arun Kumar Srivastava told PTI.

The CMO said the children can also avail the registration facility offline and walk into three-four designated vaccination centres by carrying Aadhaar card and any other identity card.

District Hospital, Sarojani Naidu Medical College and Urban Health Centres and Rural Health Centres are among other prominent vaccination centres for children.

The timing of vaccination at the centres is from 10 am to 4 pm, Srivastava added.

There are about 3.25 lakh children aged 15 to 18 in the district.

A 17-year-old girl from Agra, Poorvi Nakar, was one of the children who got vaccinated on the first day. Sharing her experience, Poorvi said, ''I was very excited to get my first jab at the district hospital, especially on the occasion of my 17th birthday.'' ''I did not have any fear of vaccination. I will encourage my other friends to come and get themselves vaccinated as soon as possible,'' she added.

Agra reported 33 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours. The district reported 28 new cases on Sunday, a day after the New Year celebration. The fresh cases pushed the active case count to 90 in Agra, according to official figures available on Monday.

Agra has so far recorded 25,866 coronavirus cases and 25,317 of them have recovered from the infection, the data released by the district administration stated on Monday.

The district has seen 458 deaths due to the pandemic so far.