Administration of precaution dose for HCWs, FLWs, 60+ population from Jan 10

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaJanuary 6, 2022

Administration of precaution dose for health care workers (HCWs), front line workers (FLWs) including personnel deployed for election duty and persons aged 60 years with co-morbidities will start from January 10, under the National COVID-19 Vaccination Programme.

This was informed by the Secretary in-charge Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Rajesh Bhushan in a letter to all the states and union territories on Thursday.

The letter said yhe National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI)has recommended the administration of homologous vaccine for HCWs, FLWs and elders (more than 60 years of age) with co-morbidities i,e the same vaccine that has been administered for previous two doses would be given as the precaution dose to the eligible beneficiaries.

Eligibility has been detailed in Guidelines for Covid19 vaccination of children between 15 to 18 years & Precaution Dose to HCWs, FLWs & 60+ population with co-morbidities issued on December 27.

It further stated that the private hospitals that function as COVID-19 vaccination centres can vaccinate their staff (doctors, paramedics etc) at their hospital itself.

They may choose to bear the cost of the vaccine doses and provide the precaution dose to their staff who are eligible and due, free of cost or they may provide such vaccination and charge for it.

Under the National COVID-19 Vaccination Programme, more than 148 crore vaccine doses have been successfully administered.

91% of the adult population has received at least one dose while 66% have been fully vaccinated.

More than 17% of the adolescents aged 15 to 18 years have also been vaccinated with the 1^st dose within three days of initiation of vaccination for this age group. All these are landmark achievements.