Booster Shot: Everything on How & When to Take Your 3rd Vaccine Dose

As on 10 January 2022, India started administering COVID-19 vaccine booster for healthcare workers and those aged above 60 with comorbidities.

Here’s all the things you should know about it:

If eligible for the booster shot, get vaccinated.

· Those who received two doses of Covishield, manufactured by Serum Institute of India, will receive the same vaccine as the third dose.
· This is also applicable to those who got the Covaxin vaccine, manufactured by Bharat Biotech International Ltd and Sputnik.
· There will be no mix and match of vaccines that will be allowed.
· To be able to get the booster shot, one needs to access their credentials under their existing profile on the Co-WIN application.
· Another eligibility criteria to get the booster shot is to have a gap of nine months or 39 weeks between the second vaccine shot and the booster shot.
· If eligible, the CO-WIN system itself will send out a reminder message to get the booster shot administered.
· One can either book an appointment for the booster shot via the app or walk in to any hospital or centre where the booster shot is being administered.
· Once the booster shot is administered, the same will reflect on the app and the vaccination certificate.
· Those who have recently tested positive for COVID-19 should wait for at least three months before getting the booster shot.
· Those above 60 with co-morbidities will not be required to submit a certificate or letter from their medical practitioner.
· Those who are on poll-duty in election bound states of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa have also been designated as frontline workers and will be eligible to get the booster shot.
· States like Jammu and Kashmir and Tamil Nadu are considering a door-to-door booster shot campaign to ensure maximum people benefit.
· In government hospitals and facilities, the booster shot is being administered free of cost.

· As per a report in NDTV, a study from the UK has found that a third dose of vaccine can provide up to 88 per cent protection against hospitalisation from infection by the Omicron variant.

(Edited by Divya Sethu)