COVID-19 Vaccination: Precautionary Dose Slots Open For Booking Today

Appointments for the precautionary dose of COVID-19 vaccines open on January 8. All healthcare and frontline workers across the country, personnel deployed in states where elections are going to be taking place and people above 60 years of age with comorbidities are eligible for the precautionary dose. Those eligible will be able to book an appointment or walk in directly and get their jab at designated centres.

As per the health ministry a fresh registration won't be needed for the booster shot. Eligible people can use the same registration with which they availed the first two doses of vaccines for the precautionary dose as well.

“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.

The precautionary dose will be administered to the eligible group of people from January 10, 2022.

Dr VK Paul, head of India’s COVID-19 task force informed that there will no mix and match dosage for people who will be taking the third dose of the vaccination.

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Hence, the center notified all the states and Union territories of India that the recipient of the precautionary dose would get the same shot of vaccine that was used for the first two doses.

The online appointment facility is expected to start by Saturday evening with on-site appointments starting from January 10, 2022.

The ministry also called the personnel deployed in states where elections are going to be taking place as frontline workers and stated that they will be eligible for the booster shot as well. The Elections are scheduled to be held in five states in the coming months- Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Punjab, and Manipur.

As per the government, people who are 60-year-old or above will not be required to produce any certificate from the doctor at the time of availing the precautionary dose.

Amidst the coronavirus variants and third wave scare, the booster programs are being accelerated. On January 8, India recorded 1.4 lakh new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, with a jump of more than 20 percent from the previous day. While Maharashtra reported 40,925 cases, Delhi recorded 17,335 cases. The Omicron case tally stands at 3,071 as of Saturday.