From January next year, India will begin delivering the first coronavirus vaccine doses to children of ages 15 to 18 and booster doses to health care and frontline workers and people above the age of 60 with certain health conditions, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Saturday.

Countries around the world have expanded their Covid-19 vaccination programmes to include young children and on Thursday Ecuador became the first country to make vaccines obligatory for children as young as five, following the arrival of the Omicron variant.

The move comes amid calls from experts to expand the vaccine drive, especially booster doses, to fight new variants like Omicron, which has shown a substantial drop in vaccine efficacy against symptomatic disease.

In a televised address late in the evening, the Prime Minister outlined the preparations the government has made to tackle any surges before he announced the three decisions. “For children who are between the ages of 15 years and 18 years, vaccinations will now start in the country. In 2022, it will be launched on January 3,” he said in his address to the nation.

“We all have experience that those who are Corona warriors, health care and frontline workers, they have a huge contribution in keeping the country safe in this fight. Therefore, from the point of view of precaution, the government has decided that a ‘precaution dose’ of vaccine will also be started for health care and frontline workers,” the PM said.

He said citizens above 60 years of age and with comorbidities will also have the option of “precaution dose” of the vaccine on the advice of their doctors.

Boosters for health care and frontline workers will open on January 3, and for people aged 60 and above with certain health conditions that put them at a higher risk of severe Covid-19 disease will start on January 10, the PM said.