Oct 31, Colombo: The Director General of Health Services, Dr. Asela Gunawardena says that the third dose or the booster shot of the COVID-19 vaccine will be given from tomorrow (November 01) to the frontline workers including the health workers who are dealing with Covid patients.

He said the booster vaccine would be given six months after the second dose, and that the first booster shot would be given to health workers and members of the Armed Forces who are in the frontline interacting with Covid patients.

In the first round frontline health workers will receive the Covid-19 booster. They will receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Dr. Gunawardena said that those who are engaged in the field of airport, port, tourism etc. will be vaccinated next and after that it is expected to administer the booster vaccine to people over 60 years of age in the country.

Following the vaccination of the elderly, the booster shot will be given to those between the ages of 30 and 60 with various ailments. Thereafter, the booster vaccine is expected to be given to all those under the age of 20, the Director General of Health Services said.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health states that the Covid vaccination program will continue to be implemented throughout the island.

The number of people in the country who have received both doses of the vaccine so far is 13,460,092 according to the Epidemiology Unit of the Health Ministry. It is 62.5 percent of the country’s population.