Telangana health minister requests Centre to reduce interval between second dose and precautionary dose

HYDERABAD: Telangana health minister T Harish Rao has urged the centre to reduce the interval between the second dose and the precautionary dose from the current 9 months to 6 months. For healthcare workers it was urged to be reduced further to 3 months only.
In the letter written to Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya, the minister wrote, “Based on the experience of booster dose policies of countries like USA and UK, it is requested to kindly consider decreasing the interval between second dose and precautionary dose from 9 to 6 months and examine the possibility of further decreasing it to 3 months for all healthcare workers.Also consider including all citizens above 60 years of age for precautionary dose irrespective of comorbidities and to consider booster dose for all citizens above 18 years.”
The letter said that Covid vaccination has already aided in reducing the overall infections and severity of infections. “The state has initiated precautionary dose to the risk groups as per guidelines of the Government of India. Data of Covid infections and hospitalizations has beyond doubt proved that vaccines are highly effective and are preventing severe morbidity, hospitalization and mortality,” it read.