PremiumThe World Health Organization (WHO) is reviewing the emerging evidence on the need for and timing of a booster dose for the currently available Covid-19 vaccines which have received EUL
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Amidst a debate over the administration of an additional dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, a senior government official on Friday said that India would shortly release a policy on booster doses.
Dr NK Arora, the chairperson of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI), said that the policy document is expected to be released in the next ten days.
The policy document, Arora said, will guide on eligibility criteria of people who can take booster doses.
The World Health Organization (WHO), with support of the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization and its Covid-19 Vaccines Working Group, is reviewing the emerging evidence on the need for and timing of a booster dose for the currently available Covid-19 vaccines which have received Emergency Use Listing (EUL).
SAGE on October 11 said that people with weaker immune systems should receive an additional shot of approved Covid-19 vaccines. A final report will be issued in December, it said. SAGE had said that moderately and severely immunocompromised persons should be offered an additional dose of all WHO approved vaccines as these individuals are less likely to respond adequately to vaccination following a standard primary vaccine series and are at high risk of severe Covid-19 disease.
“People aged 60 and older who received the Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines should get a third dose too, the experts added, though use of other vaccines may also be considered depending on supply and access, the recommendations said. When implementing this recommendation, countries should initially aim at maximizing 2-dose coverage in that population, and thereafter administer the third dose, starting in the oldest age groups", they said.
In the latest interim statement on booster doses for the Covid-19 vaccination issued on October 4, the WHO said that introducing booster doses should be firmly evidence-driven and targeted to the population groups in greatest need.
The rationale for implementing booster doses should be guided by evidence on waning vaccine effectiveness, in particular a decline in protection against severe disease in the general population and in high-risk populations, or due to a circulating variant of concern (VoC). To date, the evidence remains limited and still inconclusive on any widespread need for booster doses following a primary vaccination series.
“In the context of ongoing global vaccine supply constraints, broad-based administration of booster doses risks exacerbating inequities in vaccine access by driving up demand and diverting supply while priority populations in some countries, or in subnational settings, have not yet received a primary vaccination series. The focus remains on urgently increasing global vaccination coverage with the primary series driven by the objective to protect against severe disease," the WHO said in the statement.
The apex global health agency’s Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus last week said, “No more boosters should be administered, except to immunocompromised people."
Earlier in August, noting that in certain states individuals have taken booster doses and different Covid-19 vaccines flouting current Covid-19 vaccination guidelines, the central government has asked states to ensure that the “irresponsible practice of wasting “scarce commodity" is immediately stopped.
India’s Covid-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 110.79 Crores. The union health ministry in a separate statement said that more than 121 crore (1,21,35,46,100) vaccine doses have been provided to States/UTs so far through Govt of India (free of cost channel) and through direct state procurement category. More than 18.04 Crore (18,04,64,611) balance and unutilized Covid-19 vaccine doses are still available with the States/UTs to be administered.
The recovery of 13,155 patients in the last 24 hours has increased the cumulative tally of recovered patients (since the beginning of the pandemic) to 3,38,14,080. Consequently, India’s recovery rate stands at 98.26%, the government said. At least 12,516 new coronavirus cases were reported in the last 24 hours.
The active caseload is presently at 1,37,416 is the lowest in 267 days. Active cases constitute 0.40% of the country's total positive cases, which is the lowest since March 2020.
The weekly positivity rate at 1.10% remains less than 2% for the last 49 days now. The daily positivity rate is reported to be 1.07%. The daily positivity rate has remained below 2% for the last 39 days and below 3% for 74 consecutive days now.
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