New Delhi: The rollout of the precaution dose against the coronavirus will commence on Monday (January 10) in India for healthcare, frontline workers and comorbid people aged 60 and above.
Personnel deployed for election duty in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa will also be eligible for the booster dose as they have been designated as frontline workers.
Nearly 1.05 crore healthcare, 1.9 crore frontline workers, and 2.75 crore comorbid people in the 60 plus age group would be administered the precaution dose, PTI cited Health Ministry sources as saying.
Earlier, the Centre had ruled out mixing-and-matching of coronavirus jabs for the precaution dose. Hence, the beneficiaries would be given the same COVID-19 vaccine as their previous two shots.
As per the Union Health Ministry guidelines, the gap between the date of administering the second dose of vaccine and the precaution dose would be nine months (39 weeks).
All those eligible for the precaution jab will get a reminder from CoWIN and after administration of the shot, it will be registered in the digital vaccination certificate.
Online appointments for precaution dose started on the CoWin portal on Saturday evening, while the option of an onsite appointment will begin from January 10. Notably, those aged 60 years and above with comorbidities will not be required to produce any certificate from a doctor while taking the precaution dose.
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya tweeted in Hindi on Sunday, "The government is ensuring the security of the health army that keeps the country secure. Reminder SMS have been sent to more than one crore health and frontline workers and 60+ citizens for their precaution dose. Appointments on COWIN are already open. Administering the doses will start tomorrow."
The booster dose comes as India is staring at the threat of a third coronavirus wave driven by the new Omicron variant. India reported 1,59,632 new coronavirus cases, the highest in 224 days, as per Union health ministry data on Sunday. The daily positivity rate in the country jumped to 10.21 per cent as India reels under the third COVID-19 wave threat. The active cases have risen to 5,90,611, the highest in around 197 days.
The total tally of the Omicron variant has reached 3,623 in the country. Out of the total 3,623 Omicron cases, Maharashtra logged the highest with 1,009 cases, followed by Delhi with 513 and Karnataka with 441 cases.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting on Sunday to review the COVID-19 situation in the country where he directed the officials to accelerate the vaccine drive for adolescents. India had started the vaccination of teenagers between the ages of 15 to 18 from January 3.
(With agency inputs)
