by Among healthcare and frontline workers and those aged 60 and above with comorbidities, prioritisation and sequencing would be based on completion of nine months or 39 weeks from the date of the second dose as of January 10, the government said in its guidelines issued on Monday.
To register on the CoWin site, children can use their school IDs, National Health Authority chief executive RS Sharma said. They can register themselves online through an existing account or create a new one. The 60-andabove recipients will have to mention their comorbidity on the portal while registering and need to produce a certificate from a registered doctor at the vaccination site.
Health secretary Rajesh Bhushan has called for a review meeting with states and Union territories to discuss smooth implementation of the guidelines and review the evolving Omicron situation across states.
“All those aged 15 or more will be able to register on CoWin. In other words, all those whose birth year is 2007 or before, shall be eligible. Beneficiaries can self-register, online through an existing account on CoWIN or by creating a new account through a unique mobile number, this facility is available for all eligible citizens presently,” the guidelines said.
Healthcare and frontline workers and citizens aged 60-and-above with comorbidities will be able to access vaccination for the precaution dose through their existing CoWin account. The CoWin system will send an SMS to eligible persons for availing the precaution dose when it becomes due, the guidelines said. Details of administration of the precaution dose will also reflect in vaccination certificates.
Nearly three crore healthcare and frontline workers are expected to be eligible in January to get the booster dose of the Covid vaccine, which will be administered with a gap of nine months after the second dose. Besides, 6-7 crore children in the 15-18 age bracket will be eligible to receive Covaxin.
The health ministry said the precaution dose or third dose of Covid vaccines is being provided to health and frontline workers as a “matter of abundant precaution”. While an estimated three crore people above 60 years of age are expected to have comorbidities, very few may actually be eligible for receiving the third dose in January, given the nine-month gap required.
