Over 9 lakhs 'precaution' doses of Covid vaccine administered on 1st day

New Delhi, Jan 11: As many as 9,84,676 beneficiaries received their third dose of the Covid vaccine on the first day of the drive to administer the 'Precaution Dose' to the healthcare workers, frontline workers and sixty plus individuals commenced on Monday across the country.

"9,84,676 'Precaution doses' of COVID vaccine administered - 5,19,604 healthcare workers, 2,01,205 frontline workers, and 2,63,867 over 60 years administered additional doses on the first day of rollout (January 10)," the health ministry said.

India rolled out "precaution doses" of Covid-19 vaccines for healthcare workers, frontline workers and those who are above the age of 60 with comorbidities from Monday. The third covid vaccine in India is called called 'precaution dose' not booster dose. Citizens irrespective of their income status are entitled to free COVID-19 vaccination at Government Vaccination Centres. Those who have the ability to pay are encouraged to use private hospitals' vaccination centres.

An estimated 1.05 crore healthcare and 1.9 crore frontline workers, and 2.75 crore comorbid people in the 60 plus age group would be administered the precaution dose.

What is the dose gap between the second and third shots?

The gap between the date of administering the second dose of vaccine and the precaution dose would be nine months (39 weeks).