Coronavirus booster dose in Telangana from today

Hyderabad: The administration of booster dose of Covid vaccines to senior citizens with comorbidities, healthcare and frontline workers in Telangana is all set to start from Monday, with the Health Department completing the related arrangements at all government Covid vaccination centres.

Based on the estimates from the Health Department, a total of 41.60 lakh senior citizens and 6.34 lakh healthcare and frontline workers will have to be administered with the booster or precautionary Covid vaccine dose in the coming months. In the above 60 years of age group, anywhere between 20 per cent and 30 per cent of beneficiaries could have pre-existing medical conditions and they will receive the booster dose.

The precautionary dose for senior citizens will depend on the willingness of the beneficiaries after due consultation with their doctor and authorities will not mobilise this particular age group for Covid vaccination, senior health officials on Sunday clarified.

With Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW) deciding to avoid mix-and-match of Covid vaccines, eligible beneficiaries in Telangana who have received the first two-doses of vaccine, either Covishield or Covaxin, will receive the same vaccine as a precautionary dose.

“I urge all the eligible healthcare workers, frontline workers from GHMC and Police Department to ensure they get the booster doses. We have also urged the Centre to allow all senior citizens to get administered with a precautionary dose, instead of those with comorbidities,” Health Minister, T Harish Rao on Sunday said.

Universal administration of Covid vaccines to healthcare workers was launched on January 16, 2021 and for frontline workers it was taken up from February 5, 2021 while vaccination for senior citizens started from March 1, 2021.

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