NEW DELHI: The CoWIN system will send an SMS to beneficiaries eligible for the “precautionary dose” when the third dose is due for healthcare and frontline workers, as well as people aged 60 and over with co-morbidities, according to the Union Health Ministry guidelines released Monday on the additional dose. and childhood immunization.
“As an abundant precautionary measure, for healthcare workers (HCWs) and frontline workers (FLW) who received two doses, another dose of COVID-19 vaccine would be provided from January 10, 2022. Prioritization and the sequencing of this precautionary dose would be based on the completion of 9 months, or 39 weeks from the date of administration of the 2nd dose, ”specify the guidelines, which go into effect on January 3.
For children between the ages of 15 and 18 eligible to be vaccinated, the only vaccine option at the moment is ‘Covaxin’, as it is the only vaccine approved in India that has an emergency use list of the. WHO for the 15-18 age group.
A second vaccine is also approved by the national drug regulatory body for use in children 12 years of age and older – ZyCoV-D, a dose manufactured by Zydus Healthcare, a Gujarat-based company. ZyCoV-D is not yet included in the vaccination program.
“All people aged 60 and over with comorbidities who have received two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine will receive, on medical advice, a precautionary dose from January 10, 2022, the document from the Ministry of Health indicates. The nine-month gap between the second and third dose will apply, however, which means that elderly people will only be eligible for the third dose if they have received the second dose by April 10, 2021.
According to RS Sharma, chief executive of the National Health Authority which leads the implementation of the CoWIN system for the national Covid vaccination program, the system will only register people in the three eligible categories if nine months have passed since the second dose.
“Registration and appointment services are accessible via online and on-site modes. The details of the administration of the precautionary dose will be appropriately reflected in the vaccination certificates, ”say the guidelines, released two days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the decision to allow the third dose to those entering hospitals. eligible categories.
In addition, children eligible to be vaccinated against Covid-19 from next year will be able to register on the CoWIN platform from January 1, Sharma said.
“The system is being changed accordingly. Students can use their ID card to register, ”he said.
All those whose year of birth is 2007 or earlier will be eligible to register on CoWIN; they can register themselves online via an existing account on CoWIN or can also register by creating a new account via a unique mobile number. For now, the facility is available to all eligible Indian citizens. Eligible children can also be enrolled on-site by the verifier or vaccinator in facilitated enrollment mode, and appointments can be made online or on-site (walk-in), as per government guidelines.
On December 25, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced key decisions in India’s fight against coronavirus disease, including the start of vaccination of children aged 15-18 from January 3 next year and the authorization of a “precautionary dose” for health workers, front-line workers and people aged 60 and over who suffer from co-morbidities, on the advice of their doctor.
The move came amid calls from experts to expand the vaccination campaign, especially the booster doses, to combat newer variants such as Omicron, which has shown a substantial drop in the vaccine’s efficacy against diseases. symptomatic.
“In view of the recent global wave of Covid-19 cases, the detection of the Omicron variant which has been classified as a variant of concern (VOC), scientific evidence, global practices and contributions / suggestions from ‘Covid-19 Working Group of National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI) ”as well as the“ Standing Scientific Technical Committee (STSC) ”of NTAGI, it has now been decided to further refine the scientific prioritization and coverage of the Covid vaccination -19, ”the health ministry said in a note.
