Adults may opt for booster doses of Covid-19 vaccines six months after full immunisation with two doses, the Union health ministry said on Wednesday, announcing a change in the waiting time from the current nine months.

Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan said the health ministry had accepted a recommendation from a technical panel to shorten the gap between the second dose and the precaution dose to six months or 26 weeks from the earlier nine months or 39 weeks.

Under current rules, adults aged between 18 and 59 years can seek precaution (booster) doses from private vaccination centres while healthcare workers, frontline workers and adults 60 years or older can get booster doses from government centres.

Bhushan said corresponding changes had already been made in CoWin, the digital platform that recipients can use to register themselves for the vaccines and boosters.