COVID Vaccine Guidelines: Covaxin For Children, 9-Month Gap In Precaution Dose | Check Pointers

Union Health Ministry on Monday issued guidelines for COVID19 vaccination of children between 15-18 years, precaution dose to health care & frontline workers, and 60+ population with comorbidities.

Representative Photo: PTI

New Delhi: The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Monday issued guidelines for COVID-19 vaccination of children aged between 15-18 years along with norms for precaution dose to health care & frontline workers, and the beneficiaries aged above 60 having comorbidities.

The Health Ministry has released the following guidelines keeping in view of “the recent global surge of COVID-19 cases, detection of Omicron variant which has been categorised as a Variant of Concern (VOC), scientific evidence, global practices and the inputs/suggestions of ‘COVID-19 Working Group of National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI)’ as well as of ‘Standing Technical Scientific Committee (STSC)’ of NTAGI”:

• COVID-19 Vaccination of children in the age group of 15-18 years to be started from January 3, 2022. For such beneficiaries, the vaccination option would be “Covaxin” only.
  
  
• As a matter of abundant precaution, for those Health Care Workers (HCWs) & Front Line Workers (FLWs) who have received two doses, another dose of the COVID-19 vaccine would be provided from January 10, 2022. The prioritisation and sequencing of this precaution dose would be based on the completion of 9 months i.e. 39 weeks from the date of administration of the second dose.
  
  
• All persons aged 60 years and above with comorbidities who have received two doses of COVID-19 vaccine, will on Doctor’s advice be provided with a precaution dose from January 10, 2022. The prioritisation and sequencing of this precaution dose would be based on the completion of 9 months i.e. 39 weeks from the date of administration of the second dose.

Co-WIN Features & Provisions:

- HCWs, FLWs, and Citizens 60+ with co-morbidities:

• All HCWs, FLWs, and citizens aged 60 years or above with comorbidities will be able to access the vaccination for precaution dose through their existing Co-WIN account.
  
  
• Eligibility of such beneficiaries for the precaution dose will be based on the date of administration of second dose as recorded in the Co-WIN system.
  
  
• Co-WIN system will send SMS to such beneficiaries for availing the precaution dose when the dose becomes due.
  
  
• Registration and appointment services can be accessed through both, the online and the onsite modes.
  
  
• The details of the administration of the precaution dose will be suitably reflected in the vaccination certificates.

- New beneficiaries aged 15-18 years:

• All those aged 15 years or more will be able to register on Co-WIN. In other words, all those whose birth year is 2007 or before, shall be eligible.
  
  
• Beneficiaries can self-register online through an existing account on Co-WIN or can also register by creating a new account through a unique mobile number, this facility is available for all eligible citizens presently.
  
  
•  Such beneficiaries can also be registered onsite by the verifier/vaccinator in facilitated registration mode.
  
  
• Appointments can be booked online or onsite (walk-in).
  
  
• For such beneficiaries, the option for vaccination would only be available for Covaxin as this is the only vaccine with EUL for the age-group 15-17, the release mentioned.

Union Health Ministry stated that these guidelines will come into effect from January 3, 2022, and will be reviewed from time to time