COVID-19 precaution dose: Price, registration, appointment, age, eligibility, availability, hospitals and more

India on Sunday began administering precaution dose of COVID-19 vaccines to all aged above 18 years at private vaccination centres. Here is all you need to know about COVID-19 precaution dose, also prevalent by the name of booster dose - Price, eligibility, availability, hospitals and more:-

COVID-19 precaution dose: Age, eligibility?

-All those above the age of 18 who have completed nine months after the administration of the second dose are eligible for the precaution dose.

COVID-19 precaution dose: Price, availability, hospitals?

- Vaccine majors Serum Institute of India (SII) and Bharat Biotech on Saturday said they have decided to cut prices of the precaution dose of their respective COVID-19 vaccines to Rs 225 per shot for private hospitals after discussion with the government.

- The Centre on Saturday told all states and UTs that the precaution dose will be of the same Covid vaccine which has been used for administration of first and second dose and that private vaccination centres can charge up to a maximum of Rs 150 per dose as service charge over and above the cost of the vaccine.

COVID-19 precaution dose: Registration?

-States and UTs on Saturday were also informed that no fresh registrations would be required for precaution dose as all due beneficiaries are already registered on CoWIN.

- It was emphasized that all vaccinations must mandatorily be recorded of CoWIN platform and both the options of 'Online appointment' and 'Walk-in' registration and vaccination will be available at private Covid vaccination centres (CVCs).

-The Private CVCs will maintain the vaccination sites as per the guidelines issued earlier by the Ministry of Health.

Covid-19 Vaccination in India

The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 last year 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 last year. 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 last year.

The next phase of vaccination commenced from January 3 for adolescents in the age group of 15-18 years.

India began administering precaution doses of vaccines to healthcare and frontline workers and those aged 60 and above with comorbidities from January 10.

The country began inoculating children aged 12-14 from March 16. 

(With PTI inputs)