HomeNewsIndiaCOVID-19 Booster doses for all adults from April 10: Health Ministry

COVID-19 Booster doses for all adults from April 10: Health Ministry

All persons aged 18 years and above will be eligible to get COVID-19 vaccine booster doses at private vaccination centres.

April 08, 2022 / 15:43 IST
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Representational image (Reuters)
Representational image (Reuters)

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare announced on April 8 that all coronavirus vaccine beneficiaries aged 18 years and above will now be able to get booster doses from April 10 at private vaccination centres.

All adults who have completed nine months since the administration of the second dose of the coronavirus vaccine, will be allowed to visit private vaccination centres for their third dose or precaution dose from Sunday.

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A statement released by the Health Ministry read: “It has been decided that precaution dose of COVID-19 vaccines will be made available to 18+ population group at private vaccination centres.”

It added: “The administration of precaution dose to 18+ population through private vaccination centres would start from April 10 (Sunday), 2022. All those who are more than 18 years of age and have completed nine months after the administration of the second dose, would be eligible for the precaution dose. This facility would be available in all Private Vaccination Centres.

COVID-19 Vaccine
Frequently Asked Questions

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How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.
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