Delhi govt makes Covid precautionary dose free for beneficiaries aged 18-59

Delhi government on Thursday announced that the precautionary or the booster COVID-19 dose will be available for free to all eligible beneficiaries aged between 18 and 59 years in all government vaccination centres.

This comes after the national capital witnessed a sharp rise in the coronavirus cases.

"In order to give the benefit of precaution dose to all eligible beneficiaries in Delhi, the same will be available for the 18-59 years age group, free of cost in all government CVCs from April 21, 2022," Delhi government's statement read.

Union Health Ministry launched the precautionary third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine for the 18-plus population at private vaccination centres on April 10.

All those who are over 18 years of age and have completed nine months after the administration of the second dose are eligible for the precaution dose.

A day before the administration of the precaution dose, the SII announced that it has revised the price of its COVID vaccine Covishield for private hospitals from Rs 600 to Rs 225 per dose.

The Centre has also allowed the private COVID-19 vaccination centres to charge up to a maximum of Rs 150 as a service charge for vaccination over and above the cost of the vaccine.

Meanwhile, Delhi reported 965 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, with active cases nearing 3,000.

As many as 635 COVID recoveries and one death from the virus were also witnessed in the last 24 hours.

The COVID positivity rate in Delhi was recorded to be 4.71 per cent, while the active cases stood at 2,970.

The precaution dose was available free of cost only to those above 60 years of age, healthcare workers and frontline workers earlier.

In view of the rising COVID-19 cases in the national capital over the past few days, the Delhi government on Wednesday made the wearing of masks mandatory at public places, said Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal. Sources said that it also imposed Rs 500 penalty for defying the norm.