The Centre on Tuesday said that senior citizens with comorbidities will not need a doctor’s certificate to be eligible for the third dose of the Covid vaccine. In addition to this, they will also not be required to upload or provide a medical certificate regarding their specified co-morbidities. However, people above 60 years of age must consult their doctors before taking the jab.
“All persons aged 60 years and above with co-morbidities will not be required to produce/submit any certificate from a doctor, at the time of administration of precaution dose,” read the letter sent by health secretary Rajesh Bhushan to states and Union Territories.
The precautionary dose will be provided to healthcare workers, frontliners, and people above the age of 60 years with comorbidities. People deployed in election duty will also qualify as frontline workers. People will be eligible for the third jab only after the completion of nine months from the second dose. The CoWin app will also send reminder messages to the eligible people for the third jab.
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The third dose of vaccination for the eligible people will commence from January 10, next year. The decision came as the country witnessed a rise in Omicron Covid variant cases across different states in India. The prime minister also announced that Covid vaccination for children between 15-18 years of age will begin from January 3.
The government has also advised the states to set separate vaccination centres dedicated to the children. Eligible children between the age group of 15-18 years can register themselves on the CoWin from January 1 or avail of a walk-in registration when vaccination commences from January 3.
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Bharat Biotech's Covaxin and Zydus Cadila's ZyCoV-D are the only two Covid-19 vaccines that were approved for kids over 12. However, Bharat Biotech's Covaxin is only jab to be used for the vaccination of children between the age of 15 and 18 years.
