Free Covid booster doses for all above 18 yrs of age from July 15

Free doses will be given at govt centres under a 75-day special drive

NEW DELHI: In a major move aimed at improving the thirddose coverage, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday decided to inoculate booster doses of Covid-19 to all adults above 18 years for free of cost at government vaccination centres under a special drive over the next 75 days.

The drive to inoculate booster doses for free is scheduled to start from Friday (July 15) and it will continue till September 27. The decision in this regard has been taken as a part of the government’s ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ celebrations to mark the 75th anniversary of India’s Independence. As per Health Ministry’s latest vaccination report, over 73 lakh eligible beneficiaries belonging to age group 18-59 years have been administered the precaution doses of coronavirus, which is one per cent of the total 77 crore target population for the booster doses.

However, around 26 per cent of the estimated 16 crore eligible population aged 60 years and above as well as healthcare and frontline workers have received the booster dose.

The trend of increase in fresh Covid-19 infections continued on Wednesday too as India reported 16,906 new cases in the last 24 hours which took the total number of coronavirus cases to 4,36,69,850 and the death count climbed to 5,25,519 with 45 new fatalities in the last 24 hours.

The active cases increased to 1,32,457, according to the Union Health Ministry data. The active cases comprise 0.30 per cent of the total infections, while the national Covid-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.50 per cent.

In the last 24 hours, an increase of 1,414 cases has been recorded in the active Covid-19 caseload.

Meanwhile, the health ministry official said that a majority of the Indian population got their second dose over nine months ago. “Studies at Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and other international research institutions have suggested that antibody levels wane around six months after the primary vaccination with both doses and giving a booster dose increases the immune response,” the official said.

“The government is therefore planning to start a special drive for 75 days during which individuals aged between 18 and 59 years will be administered precaution doses for free at government vaccination centres starting from July 15,” the official said.

Earlier, the Union Health Ministry last week reduced the gap between the second and precaution dose of Covid-19 vaccine for all beneficiaries from nine to six months. The gap was reduced on the basis of the recommendations from the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI).

To accelerate the pace of vaccination and encourage booster shots, the government launched the second round of the ‘Har Ghar Dastak campaign 2.0’ across the states on June 1. The two-month programme is currently underway.

According to government data, 96 per cent of India’s population has been administered the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine while 87 per cent of the people have taken both doses.

The administration of precaution doses to all eligible beneficiaries belonging to above 18 age groups was started from April 10 this year.