Traveling Abroad? Now You Can Take Covid Vaccination Precaution Dose Before 9 Months

New Delhi: Relaxing norms for Covid vaccine precaution dose, the Centre on Thursday (May 12) allowed citizens travelling overseas to get the shot before the stipulated nine-month waiting period as required by the guidelines of the destination country, sources said. The Union Health Ministry’s decision to relax the norms about the precaution dose for overseas travellers was based on recommendations by the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI).

Also Read: 70 Per Cent People Who Took Booster Dose Didn’t Get Covid During 3rd Wave In India: Study

“Indian citizens and students travelling overseas can now take the precaution dose as required by the guidelines of the destination country. This new facility will be available soon on the CoWIN portal,” Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said in a tweet.

The advisory panel last week had recommended that those who need to travel overseas can take the precaution dose of Covid vaccine as required by the country they are travelling to before the mandatory nine-month gap.

Currently, all those above 18 years who have completed nine months after the second dose are eligible for the precaution jab.

The ministry had received several representations seeking the precaution dose of Covid vaccine for those who have to travel abroad for employment, business commitments, admission to foreign educational institutes, participating in sports events, and bilateral and multilateral meetings as part of India’s official delegation.

Also Read: Covid Vaccines Of All Eligible Children At Earliest A Priority: PM To Chief Ministers

The issue was discussed in a meeting of NTAGI held last week after which it recommended that those who need to travel overseas can take the booster shot, before the stipulated nine-month waiting period, as per the booster guidelines of the country they are travelling to, a source had said.

India began administering precaution doses of Covid vaccines to healthcare and frontline workers and those aged 60 and above with comorbidities from January 10 this year.

The comorbidity clause was removed in March making all people aged above 60 eligible for the precaution dose of Covid vaccine.

On April 10, India began administering precaution doses of COVID-19 vaccines to all aged above 18 years at private vaccination centres.

Also Read: Covaxin, Covishield Recipients Had Same Infection Rate In Third Wave: Study

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – the LGBTQ population, indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fight malnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health, adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity,  that is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.