The govt had earlier cut the booster dose gap for those travelling abroad The central government on Wednesday cut the gap for taking the booster Covid-19 dose to six months from the earlier nine months after taking the second shot.
This comes after the Standing Technical Sub-Committee (STSC) of the NTAGI last month recommended reducing the gap between the second and precaution doses of Covid-19 vaccines to six months.
The recommendation was endorsed by the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation, according to the Union health ministry. “Therefore, it has now been decided that the precaution dose for all beneficiaries from 18-59 years will be administered after completion of six months or 26 weeks from the date of administration of the second dose at a private vaccination centre," read a letter by Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan to all states. "For beneficiaries aged above 60 years as well as the healthcare workers (HCWs) and frontline workers (FLWs), precaution dose would be administered after completion of six months at government vaccination centres free of cost," it added.
Prior to this, the government had in May government allowed citizens travelling overseas to get the shot before the stipulated nine-month waiting period as required by the guidelines of the destination country..