India / Booster to be of same vaccine as previous 2 doses says government

New Delhi : The government said on Wednesday that the precautionary dose of the Kovid-19 vaccine to be given to health workers, frontline workers and people aged 60 years and above will be the same as the first two doses. NITI Aayog Member (Health) VK Paul said during the weekly press conference on Covid-19 that all preparations have been made to start immunization of beneficiaries in these categories from January 10. Paul said that the precautionary dose of Kovid vaccine that will be given to health workers, frontline workers and people of 60 years and above and patients suffering from other diseases will be the same vaccine that was given to them earlier.

He said that those who have taken the first two doses of Kovishield will be given the Kovishield vaccine and those who have taken Covaccine will be given Covaccine. He also said that new information, science and data related to vaccine mix is ​​also being monitored.

As per the guidelines issued recently by the Ministry of Health, the precautionary dose will be given on the basis of completion of nine months i.e. 39 weeks from the date of second dose. Meanwhile, the Subject Expert Committee (SEC) on COVID-19 of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) on Tuesday gave its nod to Bharat Biotech for the Phase III trial for a nasal COVID vaccine.

It is also to be tested whether it can be used as a booster dose. The SEC said on December 10 that the Serum Institute of India (SII) should submit a proposal with local clinical trial data and a rationale for approval of the booster dose.