Booster dose for Covid warriors, senior citizens from Jan 10; Here's all you need to know

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday announced ‘precaution or booster dose’ for healthcare and frontline workers from 10th January 2022. The major development comes ascases of highly contagious Omicron increase in India.

The decision of precaution dose will strengthen the confidence of healthcare and frontline workers as they spent most of their time in service of Covid patients. The Prime Minister alsoannounced that option of precaution dose will be available for senior citizens above 60 years of age with co-morbidities on the advice of their doctors from 10th January 2022. 

Things you must know before applying for ‘precaution dose’

• Those who require a precaution dose will be required to provide a medical certificate in order to receive the third dose.

"A medical certificate verifying the elderly's comorbidity would be required. We'll stick to the same list of comorbidities that were issued at the beginning of the vaccinationdrive for those aged 45 to 59," Dr RS Sharma, the National Health Authority's chief executive officer who also oversees the CoWIN platform's operation was quoted by News18.

• Cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, stem cell transplant, kidney disease, cirrhosis, cancer, sickle cell disease and ongoing use of steroids or immunosuppressant medicines are amongthe twenty comorbidities for which a precaution dose will be administered.

Also Read: Ahead of polls, Omicron cases rise in India; Here’s what experts say

• According to the report, any registered medical practitioner must sign the medical certificate, which should be uploaded to Co-WIN 2.0 or printed and carried to the vaccination centres.

• The interval between the second and third shots or 'precaution dose of COVID-19 vaccine will likely be nine to twelve months, said officials.

Meanwhile, PM Modi also announced that from 3rd January 2022, Monday, vaccination will start for the children in the age group of 15-18 years. The move is likely to aid in educationnormalization in schools and will reduce the worry of the parents with school-going children.

On Sunday, India reported 422 new Covid variant cases. Maharashtra has reported the highest number of cases i.e. 108, followed by Delhi with 79 cases.

According to official figures by the health ministry, Omicron has been reported in Gujarat (43), Telangana (41), Kerala (38), Tamil Nadu (34), Karnataka (31) and Rajasthan (22). As perthe data, 130 of the 422 patients have been discharged after testing negative.