NTAGI discusses administering 'additional' Covid-19 vaccine dose, inoculation of kids

The issue of booster dose was not on the agenda of the meeting as studies need to be conducted to ascertain its need and value

A technical advisory panel of the government on Monday did not recommend any booster dose to the Covid-19 patients in the absence of adequate scientific studies even as Indian Medical Association demanded a third shot of the Covid-19 vaccine for the healthcare providers who were among the first to be inoculated eleven months ago.

Sources said the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) did not make any recommendation to the government in the absence of consensus as well as scientific studies justifying the need to have a booster shot.

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While several top scientists spoke on the need to have a booster shot for the health workers, the government has not taken any decision so far in the absence of systematic scientific data.

Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya told the Lok Sabha last week that a decision on booster doses and vaccines for kids would be taken on the basis of scientific advice and that the focus of the vaccination drive would be to expand the coverage of the second dose.

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The Union government’s Covid-19 genome research body, which had initially asked the government to consider booster shots for anyone above 40 years, backtracked by observing that "many more scientific experiments are needed to assess the impacts of booster dose.”

While a booster dose is given to an individual after a predefined period when the immune response due to primary vaccination is on the wane, additional shot is given to immunocompromised and immunosuppressed individuals like cancer or transplant patients when the primary schedule of inoculation does not provide adequate protection from the disease.

"The issue of administering additional doses of Covid-19 shots to immunocompromised and immunosuppressed individuals and vaccination of children against Covid-19 were deliberated upon in the meeting of NTAGI,” sources said.

Meanwhile, Indian Medical Association urged the government to announce "additional" doses of Covid vaccine for healthcare, frontline workers and immunocompromised individuals.

"IMA appeals to the government to officially announce an additional dose (of the Covid-19 vaccine) be given to healthcare, front-line workers and immuno-compromised individuals to augment the immunity," it said.

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