Elderly needn’t show medical certificate to take ‘precautionary’ shot: Centre

The Centre on Tuesday (December 28) clarified that people above 60 with co-morbidities wouldn’t be required to furnish a medical certificate to be administered the ‘precautionary’ dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

The decision was taken at a meeting of Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan with officials of states and Union territories.

It was decided that the beneficiaries can avail the dose from the doctor, without showing a certificate. They, however, would be advised to consult with their physician before taking the ‘precautionary’ shot.

“All persons aged 60 years and above with co-morbidities will not be required to produce/submit any certificate from doctor, at the time of administration of precaution dose. Such persons are expected to obtain the advice of their doctor before deciding to avail of the precaution dose,” the health secretary said in a letter.

“Personnel deployed in election duty to be counted under frontline workers category and eligible for precautionary dose.”

The letter also said that the beneficiaries will be eligible for the precautionary shot only after nine months of their second COVID vaccine jab.

As per the announcement made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, healthcare and frontline workers and those above the age of 60 years with co-morbidities can register for ‘precautionary doses’ of the COVID-19 vaccine. The doses will be administered from January 16 onwards.

The booster dose will be given nine months after the ‘precautionary’ dose.

RS Sharma, the chief executive officer at the National Health Authority, and who heads the CoWIN platform had recently said that double vaccinated beneficiaries above 60 and with co-morbidities would be required to show medical certificate to take the dose.