Personnel On Election Duty In Poll Bound States To Get Precaution Dose

Precaution dose for personnel deployed in states where elections are going to be taking place in the coming year, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare announced on December 28, today.

The ministry also called them frontline workers and stated that they will be eligible for the vaccine against the coronavirus. The Elections are scheduled to be held in five states, which includes, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Punjab and Manipur.

Booster Dose For Personnel On Poll Duty:

The ministry of health has been making a series of announcements including approving two vaccines to be used as booster dose and an antiviral drug, Molnupiravir. This statement by the ministry came after many people including the Allahabad High Court raised doubts about holding the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections amidst a new variant of coronavirus, Omicron. The new variant was first identified by scientists in South Africa and then reported worldwide. It had been called 'the variant of concern' by the World Health Organisation.

The ANI reported that the ministry in its statement said that personnel will be eligible for the precaution dose and that they will have to obtain the advice of their doctors before deciding on availing the dosage. The precaution dose will also be allotted for the healthcare workers and senior citizens.

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Apart from talking about the eligibility for the precaution dose, the ministry announced that the dose will be available from January, next year. The government also clarified that people who are 60-year-old or above will not be required to produce any certificate from the doctor at the time of availing the precaution dose.

A precaution dose is the third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, which will boost immunity and can be availed after nine months after vaccination. Dr RS Sharma, who is the CEO of the National Health Authority had said that a comorbidity certificate will be required for senior citizens to get the precaution dose.

The three crore health, frontline workers, people above 60 years and people with co-morbidities will get the dose after completing the nine-month gap. The officials said, "Any decision on the mixing of doses will be taken based on clinical trial results. The clinical trials on mixing the doses are taking place in CMC Vellore as per government officials. Read more about it here.