Fact Check: Did government approve Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin for children above 12 years?

Recently, several tweets and Whatsapp forwards claiming that centre has approved vaccine for children above 12 years have been doing rounds on the internet.

The viral message claims,  “Bharat Biotech’s (Made in India) Covaxin Approved for Children above 12 years”

However, it was fact-checked by the Press Information Bureau (PIB) and was called out as fake.

PIB tweeted, “A tweet has claimed that Bharat Biotech’s vaccine, Covaxin, has been approved for children above 12 years. #PIBFactCheck: This claim is #Fake. No such approval has been given by the Government of India. Currently, citizens above the age of 18 are eligible for #COVID19Vaccination”

Covaxin is developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech in association with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the National Institute of Virology (NIV).

As of now, children and pregnant women are not included in India’s vaccination drive as trial data is awaited for vaccines among those groups.