The health ministry has announced the rollout of the precautionary third dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. The vaccine will be for the adult population (18 plus) in private vaccination centres from April 10.
According to the health ministry, people that are more than 18 years of age and have completed nine months or 39 weeks of receiving the second dose would be eligible for the third dose.
Will the vaccination be free of cost?
The booster dose will be available at private vaccination centres and the precautionary dose will not be free. The private centres will soon be announcing the price of the booster shot and the also be reflected on the Cowin platform.
Who will be eligible for the free booster shot?
The free booster shoot will be available for frontline workers, healthcare workers and senior citizens aged above 60 years of age. The vaccination will be available at government vaccination centres.
Which vaccine will be used for the booster shot?
For booster shots, India will continue to follow the homologous vaccination, which means that people that have received Covishield previously will get Covishield as the third dose and those who got Covaxin earlier will get Covaxin as the precautionary dose.
How to know if you are eligible for the third dose?
It is expected that the Co-Win platform would send out SMS to beneficiaries for availing the booster dose.
How many precautionary doses have been administered so far?
So far, a total of 1.25 crore people above the age of 60 years, 69.77 lakh frontline workers and 45.15 lakh health care workers have received the precautionary dose.
Can anyone walk in for a booster dose?
The appointment services and registration can be accessed both online and offline so in case you can’t book slots on Cowin, one can get the booster shot by simply using the walk-in facilities.
