Covid-19 third precautionary vaccine dose: Covishield or Covaxin? Register on CoWIN or walk-in? Here’s all you need to know

Covid-19 third precautionary vaccine dose: As per the latest update shared by the Health Ministry, the beneficiaries who are eligible for their third precautionary dose of Covid-19 vaccine can either book an online appointment or walk in to any vaccination center. As per the announcement made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi frontline workers, health workers and those above the age of 60 years and suffering from co-morbidities are eligible to take their third vaccine dose against Coronavirus from January 10.

A close source in the Health Ministry told the Indian Express that there will be no need for any new registration on CoWIN as those who have taken their two doses can directly take an online appointment or walk in to any vaccination center. The source who did not want to be identified also said that the online appointment facility will be open for registration probably from today (Saturday) evening.

After pondering over the need and efficacy of the third dose for weeks, the central government had finally announced that the precautionary dose would be the same vaccine which beneficiaries have taken in their first and second dose. The order announced by the Health Ministry last week effectively means that those beneficiaries who got vaccinated with the Covishield vaccine will only be administered with the third dose of Covishield. Likewise those who were vaccinated with Covaxin will be administered an additional Covaxin dose.

In the wake of rising threat posed by the Omicron variant, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 25 had announced the third precautionary dose for frontline workers, health workers and senior citizens above the age of 60 years. PM Modi had also announced the beginning of vaccination for children aged between 15 and 18. While the vaccination for children(15-18) began on January 3, the precautionary dose vaccination will begin from Monday (January 10, 2022.)

As feared during the past several weeks, the country is witnessing the third wave of Coronavirus which is riding on the back of the highly contagious Omicron variant. As per the Health Ministry data, the country witnessed 1.41 lakh new cases of Coronavirus in the last 24 hours with a substantially high positivity rate of 9.28 percent. The active caseload, due to the sudden increase of Covid-19 cases over the past week, has reached 4.72 lakh across the country.