Govt okays booster doses before 9 months for those going abroad

NEW DELHI: The National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) has recommended allowing administration of the precautionary dose of Covid vaccine before nine months for those flying abroad, sources said.

At present, the Union Health Ministry has set a nine month gap after the second dose for the administration of precaution dose.

The source also confirmed that this recommendation has not been made for all. So, the gap of nine months between second doses and precaution doses will continue for those in India. The NTAGI discussed and recommended this in a meeting held on Wednesday.

India began administering precaution doses of vaccines to healthcare and frontline workers and 60 plus population from January 10 this year. From April 10, all those above 18 years of age were eligible to get the precaution dose after the completion of 9 months of their second doses.

Meanwhile, India’s Covid-19 vaccination coverage has crossed 189.79 crore on Thursday evening. More than more than 14 lakh (14,41,596) vaccine doses have been administered till 7 p.m.. As of now, a total of 2,90,75,352 precaution doses have been administered so far in India.