By Avinash Prabhakar New Delhi : , Nov 21, 2011 – Top health professionals are recommending a booster dose to patients with coexisting conditions and workers in the healthcare field.Others argue that it should be the first priority to protect the whole population by administering both vaccine doses.
In an attempt to combat rising infection rates, the US government opened Friday’s Covid booster shots for all adults.
Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Health Minister, stated that the decision to give a booster dose will be based solely on expert recommendations.
He also said that it is important that the programme for adult vaccines with both doses of the virus are completed as soon as possible.
IANS spoke to Dr Samiran Panda (Head, Epidemiology, Infectious Diseases division, Indian Council of Medical Research) who said Covid booster dosage may be considered based upon scientific evidence.
However, the focus of the Indian Council of Medical Research should remain on complete vaccination of the entire nation with both doses.
IANS was told by Pan Fortis Medical Council Chairman Padma Shri Dr Ashok Seth that “we should not follow America in administering the booster dose.” We should instead focus on the second dose of vaccine that has been missed.Our mass vaccination program could be affected if we start to administer booster doses.This is something we cannot bear.
He cited the US reasons for the booster dose.The Delta variant causes infections in European countries, so booster dose is necessary there.India is now out of that stage.”Healthcare workers were among the first to receive vaccinations.However, no cases have yet been reported after 9-10 months.
This could suggest the need to administer booster doses in India,” Dr Seth stated.
The Indian Medical Association however, has demanded the third booster dose to be administered for healthcare workers in the country.
The IMA stated that, after clarifications from the Union Government regarding the existence of a booster dose policy document, it has also consolidated its position on the booster dosage for healthcare workers and high-risk citizens throughout the country.
Dr J.A.Jayalal, National President of IMA said that the booster dose was not required at first.Now, we insist that all healthcare workers receive a booster dose as long as there is sufficient vaccine stock.
IANS was informed by Dr Ashutosh Shukla (Senior Director, Internal Medicine & Advisory, Max Hospital), that India must ensure two doses of vaccines for all citizens.
The breakthrough rate for infection is lower so the third dose should only be administered to those who are most vulnerable or have an immune suppressed state.
His response was that “we have to wait to receive more research data about this to determine when we should administer the booster dose.” After six months, the vaccine’s efficacy drops to 70-100%.The future research will determine whether the third shot should take place after six, nine or one year.
A source within the ministry of health said however that the development of a policy on booster doses is ongoing and would only be finalized after a thorough evaluation.
Avinash Prabhakar may be reached at Avinash.P@ians.in
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