Government not considering booster shots as of now: Niti Aayog member

PUNE: Niti Aayog member (health) Dr V K Paul on Saturday said the country was not considering Covid vaccine booster shots as of now, clarifying that there was no recommendation from the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) on it yet.
“The science of the need and the timing of booster shots is still evolving. Different vaccines may have different schedules. It is being closely watched and studied,” Dr Paul told TOI
The Niti Aayog member said the focus now was on covering the country’s adult population with the two doses of Covid vaccine.
Against the backdrop of Serum Institute of India (SII) chairman Cyrus Poonawalla emphasising on the need of third or booster dose of Covishield vaccine six months after the second dose, Dr Paul said that very few countries in the world, including the US and Israel, had started withCovid vaccine booster doses.
He said there was no recommendation from the World Health Organisation (WHO) about it yet.
“We are watching the emerging data in this regard continuously and would be guided by the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) in this regard,” he said.
About reducing the gap between two doses of Covishield, Dr Paul said there was no recommendation from NTAGI on it either.
“The present gap between the two doses of Covishield is based on science and there is currently no issue about it. So, the government is not currently thinking about reducing the gap between its two doses,” he said.
At present, the gap between two doses of Covishield is 84 days or 12-16 weeks.
The SII chairman had recently said in an interaction that the ideal gap between two doses of Covishield was two months as against the 12-16 weeks gap mandated by the government.