Govt mulls Covid booster shots for all above 18 years

New Delhi, Mar 21: The government is considering a Covid vaccine booster for all those above 18 years in view of a surge in coronavirus infections in several parts of the world and to ease difficulties faced during international travel, sources said on Monday.

Currently, healthcare and frontline workers and those above 60 years are being administered precaution doses. All people above 60 years have become eligible for the precaution dose of Covid vaccine after the Union Health Ministry removed the co-morbidity clause recently.

The prioritisation and sequencing of the dose is based on the completion of nine months, or 39 weeks, from the date of administration of the second dose.

"The government is considering a booster dose of Covid vaccine for all those above 18 years in view of a surge in infections in parts of the world and to ease difficulties faced during international travel," a source said.

India began administering precaution doses of the vaccines to healthcare and frontline workers and those aged 60 and above with co-morbidities from January 10 this year. Since January 10, more than 2.17 crore precaution doses have been administered to the identified categories of beneficiaries so far. India began COVID-19 vaccination for children in the age group of 12-14 years from March 16 this year.

The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16, 2021, with healthcare workers getting inoculated in the first phase. Vaccination of frontline workers started from February 2 last year. The next phase of COVID-19 vaccination commenced on March 1 last year for people over 60 years of age and those aged 45 and above with specified co-morbid conditions. India launched vaccination for all people aged more than 45 years from April 1, 2021.

The government then decided to expand its vaccination drive by allowing everyone above 18 years of age to be inoculated against the viral disease from May 1, 2021. The next phase of Covid vaccination commenced from January 3 this year for adolescents in the age group of 15-18 years.