India Starts Administering Precautionary Covid Vaccine Shot From Today - All You Need To Know

The precautionary dose will be administered to all frontline and healthcare workers. Moreover, people above the age of 60 will also be getting the Precautionary shot in case they have co-morbidities.

Amid the surge in Covid-19 cases in the country, the importance of taking a precautionary vaccine shot has become imminent. The government has a plan to roll out the booster dose or the precautionary vaccine shot from today, i.e. January 10, 2022. 

The precautionary dose will be administered to all frontline and healthcare workers. Moreover, people above the age of 60 will also be getting the Precautionary shot in case they have co-morbidities. 

"Schedules will be published on January 8. The online appointment facility will also start by Friday evening. Vaccination with onsite appointment starts on January 10," said the Union Health Ministry.

There is no requirement for new registration for the beneficiaries of precautionary Covid-19 vaccine dose, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Friday. A separate option called precaution dose will become available on the CoWIN portal along with the option of Dose 1 and Dose 2.

Those who had registered their second Covid vaccine dose nine months back will be able to register themselves for the precautionary dose. There will not be a big problem in identifying the healthcare workers as a database is already created from previous vaccine rollout. 

People above the age of 60 will be able to get their Covid-19 vaccine if they verbally confirm that their doctor has suggested them to take the Covid-19 vaccine. 

"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," Mandaviya said in a tweet in Hindi.

Acccording to the Health Ministry, private hospitals that function as COVID-19 Vaccination Centres can inoculate their eligible staff members.

The vaccination officials have said that the centers will be given 20% more vaccines with an option to extend the capacity by 10% more. 

The government then decided to expand its vaccination drive by allowing everyone above 18 to be vaccinated from May 1. COVID-19 vaccination for adolescents in the age group of 15-18 years commenced from January 3.