New Delhi [India], December 28 (ANI): Senior citizens with co-morbidities will not be required to produce a doctor's certificate or prescription at the time of administration of precaution dose, Union Health Ministry said on Saturday.
New Delhi Dec 28 PTI People aged 60 years and above with co-morbidity will not be required to produce or submit any certificate from doctor at the time of administration of precaution dose of COVID-19 vaccine the Centre told states and union territories on Tuesday Such persons are expected to obtain the advice of their doctor before deciding to avail of the precaution dose or third dose In a letter to states and UTs Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said personnel to be deployed in election duty in the poll-bound states will be included in the category of frontline workers Eligibility of such beneficiaries for the precaution dose will be based on the date of administration of 2nd dose as recorded in the Co-WIN system -- completion of nine months ie 39 weeks from the date of administration of second dose -- Bhushan said He informed that CoWIN will send reminder messages to all those eligible for precaution dose which will be reflected in digital vaccination certificates Bhushan chaired a workshop through video conference on Tuesday with all states and UTs to review the roll-out of vaccination for the age group 15-18 and precautionary third dose for vulnerable categories -- healthcare workers HCW frontline workers FLW and those in the 60-plus age group with co-morbidity He said only Covaxin is to be administered in the age group 15-18 years and that additional doses of the vaccine will be sent to all states and UTs The Union Government will share the supply schedule of Covaxin with all the states and UTs in the next few days he said Potential beneficiaries can either register themselves on Co-WIN from January 1 or avail of a walk-in registration when vaccination commences from January 3 Those with a birth year of 2007 or before will be eligible for vaccination under this category he said All established protocols regarding vaccination are to be followed for the 15-18 years age group beneficiaries are to wait for half-an-hour when they will be monitored for AEFI and will be eligible for the 2nd dose only after 28 days according to a health ministry statement States were informed that they have the option to designate some COVID Vaccination Centre for vaccination of the 15-18 age group exclusively which can also be reflected on Co-WIN Dedicated CVCs would ensure that there is no confusion in administering the vaccines For CVCs that are intended to serve all the states were requested to ensure separate queues and vaccination teams for the 15-18 age group With regards to the administration of the precautionary dose the Union Health Secretary highlighted that nine months must have elapsed since the administration of the second dose to make the beneficiary eligible Drawing attention to the misinformation being propagated through various media regarding the requirement of a doctors certificate to establish co-morbidity he categorically emphasised that the Union government has not issued any directions on the matter and prescriptionscertificates are not mandated to be produced at the vaccination centre for administration of the precaution dose States and UTs were further advised to ensure the orientation of vaccinators and vaccination team members for vaccination of the 15-18 age group States were exhorted to undertake proper planning in advance for distribution of Covaxin to identified session sites To avoid the mixing-up of vaccines during administration separate CVCs separate session sites separate queue and separate vaccination team are to be strived for All citizens irrespective of their income status are entitled to free COVID-19 vaccination at government vaccination centres Bhushan said in a letter Those who have the ability to pay are encouraged to use private hospitals vaccination centres The previously declared price for each vaccine at private centre will remain applicable for these group of beneficiaries Bhushan said All such healthcare workers and frontline workers who are for any reason presently registered on the Co-WIN system as citizens and are aged less than 60 years will have to get their status appropriately assigned to HCWFLW to avail the precaution dose However in order to do so they must produce the employment certificate in prescribed format This facility will only be available at government vaccination centres in on-site mode the letter stated These guidelines will come into effect from January 3 and will be reviewed from time to time PTI PLB SMN SMN
Raipur Nov 23 PTI Chhattisgarh Health Minister T S Singh Deo on Tuesday wrote to the Centre urging it to take a decision soon on administering booster dose of COVID-19 vaccine to people in priority groups In a letter to Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya Singh Deo said several countries have been witnessing third and fourth waves of the COVID-19 pandemic and have started inoculating their people with the booster shots Experts from the country and abroad have been certifying that the level of COVID-19 vaccine-induced antibodies declines within six to nine months or lasts for nearly this period Although the immunity continues to remain the same in some cases the need for a booster dose is being felt Singh Deo said in the letter The effect of the third and fourth wave of infection is being reported in several countries of the world and many nations have started administering booster shots to their citizens the state health minister said Considering the risk of the viral spread the time has come to permit a booster dose for healthcare workers HCW frontline workers FLW immuno-compromised and people above 60 years of age he said Singh Deo urged the Union health minister to take an early decision in this regard and issue necessary guidelines for administering booster dose of the vaccine to people in the above categories PTI TKP ARU ARU
New Delhi Aug 31 PTI A little more than 25 per cent of healthcare workers were infected with coronavirus despite getting fully jabbed a recent study has revealed giving an insight on the breakthrough infections due to the Delta variant The study jointly conducted by the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology IGIB and Max hospitals in Delhi-NCR found that vaccination breakthroughs were far more common during the Delta-outbreak in Delhi than previously reported However the severity of the infection was low and vaccination is crucial to avoid severe illnesses said Shantanu Sengupta senior scientist with the IGIB and one of the lead researchers of the study He also cautioned that of the 25 per cent who were infected a large number were asymptomatic so masking is also very important to arrest the spread of infection Sengupta said nearly 95 healthcare workers who had taken the two doses were studied They were assessed from 45-90 days after their inoculation Of the 95 more than 25 per cent saw breakthrough infections Immunisation is expected to confer protection against infection and severe disease for vaccines while reducing risks to non-immunised population by inhibiting transmission Here based on serial serological studies we show that during a severe SARS-CoV2 Delta-variant outbreak in Delhi 253 per cent of previously uninfected ChAdOx1-nCoV19 Covishield double vaccinated healthcare-workers HCW were infected within a period of less than two months based on serology the study said Most infections were unrecognised The Delta- variant thus causes frequent unrecognised breakthrough infections in adequately immunised subjects reducing any herd-effect of immunity and requiring reinstatement of preventive measures such as masking the paper said There is a need to have a variant-specific high throughput neutralisation assay to truly assess population immunity and predict outbreak risk it said PTI PR ZMN ZMN
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