New Delhi: The administration of ‘precaution dose’ of Covid19 vaccine to healthcare, frontline workers immuno-compromised seniors will begin from today. The precaution dose can only be taken after nine months from the date of administration of the second dose of the vaccine.
The third dose will be the same vaccine the people have received for their first and second doses. There will be no mix and match, the Centre has said. It had also informed that the senior citizens with co-morbidities will not be required to produce a doctor’s certificate or prescription at the time of administration of the precaution dose.
Meanwhile, several states imposed fresh restrictions to check the COVID-19 surge and Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviewed the situation at a high-level meeting on Sunday as cases continued to rise with 1,59,632 new infections reported, the highest in 224 days.
Precautionary third doses of vaccines — announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month — will be given to health and frontline workers and immuno-compromised seniors starting today as Covid numbers spike in the country, driven by Omicron.
The health ministry has said there is no need to register for the precautionary vaccine doses. Those eligible can directly take an appointment or walk into any vaccination centre. There is no decision yet on booster doses for all adults.
Deltacron, New Strain That Combines Delta, Omicron, Found In Cyprus
A strain of Covid-19 that combines delta and omicron was found in Cyprus, according to Leondios Kostrikis, professor of biological sciences at the University of Cyprus and head of the Laboratory of Biotechnology and Molecular Virology.
“There are currently omicron and delta co-infections and we found this strain that is a combination of these two,” Kostrikis said in an interview with Sigma TV Friday. The discovery was named “deltacron” due to the identification of omicron-like genetic signatures within the delta genomes, he said.
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