Guwahati: The Central Government has allowed booster doses of corona vaccine to those 60 years of age or above in the country, but at present, it is only being given to those who are suffering from serious diseases or who are at high risk of life.
According to reports, the Centre may soon do away with this condition for senior citizens who wish to take booster doses.
An official source said that the condition was laid down so that people at the highest risk get booster doses before the demand for the vaccine increases.
At present, people above 60 years of age are getting the third dose, while frontline and healthcare workers who took both doses of the vaccine at least 9 months ago are also being given a precaution dose. From 10th January itself, these people have started getting precautionary doses. On January 3, the government had also started vaccination for children between the ages of 15 and 18.
The Expert Standing Group of National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTGAI) had suggested a phased extension of vaccine and precaution dose for children between the ages of 15 and 18.
However, the source also said that the government no longer has any problem in supplying the vaccine but it was still decided to give the third dose in a phased manner to those aged 60 years and above.
According to the rule, those 60 years of age or more do not need to show a prescription from a doctor related to the disease to take the third dose. The only condition for these people to take a precaution dose is that they took the second dose of the vaccine at least 39 weeks ago.
It may be noted that the group above 60 years of age comprises more than 13.7 crore people, which is why the government divided the group among those suffering from serious diseases and healthy people.
Therefore, the precaution dose started with those people who were most at risk and will gradually be introduced to the entire population of this age.
It may be mentioned that the supply of vaccines is expected to increase further with the approval of emergency use to several vaccines in the coming days.