Govt may allow administering Covid vaccine booster shots to those travelling abroad for work, study
Highlights
- Government may allow Covid booster shots for those travelling abroad for work, jobs or education.
- Discussions are also underway on whether overseas-bound travellers should get booster doses.
- MEA recently highlighted the travel restrictions being enforced by certain countries.
Those seeking to travel abroad for education, employment, sports and for attending official or business commitments may soon be allowed to get a precautionary or booster Covid 19 vaccine dose, official sources told news agency PTI. Discussions are also underway on whether overseas-bound travellers opting for booster dose should receive the shot at private vaccination centres and pay for it, they said.
The development comes days after the government allowed all those who are aged above 60 to get jabbed with a booster shot. Apart from them, currently, healthcare and frontline workers are being administered precaution doses of COVID-19 vaccine.
With scheduled international flights set to resume from Sunday, the Ministry of External Affairs recently highlighted the travel restrictions being enforced by certain countries in view of the requirement of a third/booster dose and how that is impacting necessary travel of Indian travellers, sources with knowledge of the matter told PTI.
The Union Health Ministry is also learnt to have received representations for allowing administration of precaution dose for those seeking to travel for employment opportunities, educational purpose or for attending official/business commitments, etc.
"In view of these, the health ministry is actively considering to allow booster/precaution dose of COVID vaccine for those seeking to travel abroad for jobs, admission in foreign educational institutions, participating in sports tournaments, in bilateral, multilateral meetings as part of India’s official delegation or for attending business commitments," an official source told PTI.
No official directive in this regard has been issued by the Union Health Ministry yet.
(With PTI Inputs)
