Booster Dose: The number of cases of Omicron Kovid strain has crossed 400 in India.
New Delhi:
Senior sources in the health ministry told NDTV today that in view of the Omicron variant which is rapidly spreading in the country, there will be no mixing of vaccines for the critical third dose to be given.
precautionary dose That would be the third dose of the same vaccine a person has taken – whether it is Covishield or Covaxin. The key aspect will be the difference – the third dose will be given 9-12 months after the second dose to health and frontline workers and senior citizens with co-morbidities, the sources said.
Experts are meeting today to chalk out the rollout process of the precautionary doses, which will be started from January 10.
There has been much debate around the world as to whether mixing vaccines or sticking to a single vaccine for a third dose provides better protection. While specific data for the two is not yet available for booster doses, combining the vaccines for the first and second shots has triggered a more robust immune response.
A major study combining COVID-19 vaccines from the UK found that people who received the first dose of AstraZeneca or Pfizer-BioNtech shots had a better immune response nine weeks later than Moderna, according to results from Monday.
“We got a really good immune response across the board …, in fact, exceeding the two-dose limit set by the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine,” Reuters quoted Matthew Snipe, the Oxford professor behind the trial.
Recent studies at the University of Oxford in the UK have shown that the third dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine – known as Covishield in India and accounting for about 90 per cent of the doses administered in the country – has been shown to reduce neutralizing antibodies against Omicron. has increased significantly.
The study also showed that immunity begins to decline after three months with the two currently administered doses.
In view of this, a section of doctors and the Indian Medical Association had repeatedly asked the government to provide additional doses to front-line and health workers and those with weak or weakened immunity.
The number of cases of the fast-spreading Omicron variant has crossed 400 in India, with Maharashtra having the highest number of infections.
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