As the country expands its vaccination programme against Covid-19, the Union ministry of health and family welfare on Monday issued a fresh set of guidelines on the registration and inoculation drive that will cover children between 15 and 18 years of age, besides administration of ‘precaution doses’ for healthcare and frontline workers and those above 60 years of age with comorbidities.
The latest guidelines came two days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a televised address to the nation, made the announcement on the government’s move to expand the vaccination drive that he said was based on scientific advice.
Covid-19 cases have been on a rise in a number of states, besides the fast spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the virus.
Following are the key points mentioned in the guideline that will become effective from January 3, 2022.
– The inoculation of children in the age-group of 15-18 years will begin January 3, 2022. For such beneficiaries, the vaccination option would be “Covaxin” only.
– For those healthcare workers (HCWs) and frontline workers (FLWs) who have received two doses, the third dose would be available from January 10, 2022. The prioritisation and sequencing of this precaution dose would be based on the completion of nine months or 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 vaccine, will on doctor’s advice be provided with a precaution dose from January 10, 2022. Here too, the prioritisation and sequencing of the dose would be based on the completion of nine months or 39 weeks from the date of administration of the second dose.
Co-WIN features and provisions:
– HCWs, FLWs and citizens 60+ with co-morbidities 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 the second dose as recorded in the Co-WIN system.
– Co-WIN will send an 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.
– Details of administration of the precaution dose will be suitably reflected in the vaccination certificates.
– New beneficiaries aged 15-18 years 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, option for vaccination would only be available for Covaxin as this is the only vaccine with EUL for the age-group 15-17.