Personnel Deployed for Election Duty in Poll-bound States Eligible for Third Dose, Says Centre

In a letter to states and UTs, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Tuesday 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 i.e. 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.

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.

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.

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