Covid: Govt issues guidelines for precaution doses, vaccination of children

For those Health Care Workers and Front Line Workers who have received two doses, another dose of Covid vaccine would be provided from Jan 10

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

For those Health Care Workers (HCWs) and Front Line Workers (FLWs) who have received two doses, another dose of Covid vaccine would be provided from January 10. The prioritisation and sequencing of this precaution dose would be based on the completion of 9 months from the date of administration of second dose, state the guidelines.

"Keeping in view the recent global surge of Covid-19 cases, detection of Omicron variant, 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 it has now been decided to further refine the scientific prioritization & coverage of COVID-19 vaccination," said MoHFW. 

Covid Vaccination of children in the age-group of 15-18 years will start from January 3, 2022. For such beneficiaries, vaccination option would be Covaxin only. 

Based on doctor's advive, all persons aged 60 years and above with comorbidities who have received two doses of Covid vaccine will 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 second dose," state the guidelines. 

"All those aged 15 years or more will be able to register on Co-WIN. In other worlds, 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," said government.

All citizens irrespective of their income status are entitled to free Covid vaccination at government vaccination centres. Those who have the ability to pay are encouraged to use private hospitals’ vaccination centres, said government. 

Eligibility for the precaution dose will be based on the date of administration of the second dose as recorded in the Co-WIN system, which will send an SMS for availing the precaution dose when it becomes due, the ministry informed.

Registration and appointment services can be accessed through online and onsite modes, and details of administration of the precaution dose will reflect in vaccination certificates, according to the guidelines.

Beneficiaries can self-register online through an existing Co-WIN account or create a new account through a mobilephone number. This facility is available for all eligible citizens only.

They can be also registered onsite by a verifier or vaccinator in the facilitated registration mode, the ministry stated.