A special COVID-19 vaccination drive for children in the 15 to 18 age group was launched across Gujarat on Monday morning, with the State health department setting a target to cover 36 lakh beneficiaries in the category in one week.

Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel launched the drive at a school in Koba area of the State capital Gandhinagar.

He arrived at the school in the morning, inspected the facility and also interacted with some of the beneficiary children.

The special week-long Statewide drive aims to cover nearly 36 lakh beneficiaries in the 15 to 18 age category. A mega drive has been planned on January 7 with focus on students of Class 10, as per the State health department.

In the Gandhinagar municipal limits, the drive is underway across 13 schools, with the aim to cover 5,000 children on the first day itself, a note from the Chief Minister’s Office said.

The Gujarat health department has prepared around 3,500 centres across the state for the special vaccination campaign, and has said it will extend the daily timings of the drive from the current schedule of 9 am to 6 pm.

According to the health department, vaccination will be carried out in schools and Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs), and authorities will ensure that out-of-school children are also covered.

In addition, the inoculation drive will also cover institutions for the disabled, orphanages and facilities for the care of mentally ill children.

The health department said it has sufficient availability of Covaxin doses, which are to be administered to the children in the 15 to 18 age group.