Medicos hail govt decision to reduce gap between second and booster doses of Covid-19 vaccine

Mumbai, July 12, 2022:

Medical professionals have welcomed the Union health and family welfare ministry’s decision to reduce the gap between the second dose and precaution third dose of the Covid-19 vaccine from nine months to six months, saying that it will improve vaccines’ effectiveness against hospitalization and death from severe Covid-19 disease.
 
Dr Ishwar Gilada, an infectious diseases expert and Secretary General of Organised Medicine Academic Guild (OMAG) said, “The health ministry has made the right decision to reduce duration between second dose and booster dose from nine months to six months for people aged 18 years and above but such decision should have been taken earlier in larger public interest. There are close to 14 crore doses of Covid-19 vaccines lying in vaccination centres and most of them are going to expire by the end of this month. Such wastage of vaccines could have been avoided if the duration between second and third doses of vaccines was earlier brought down to six months. Studies have shown that a booster dose would be ideal at six months after receiving the second dose of the anti-Covid vaccine.”
 
Covid-19 infections are increasing in India, with 16,115 new infections reported on average each day. Booster dose will enhance vaccines’ effectiveness and provide protection against hospitalization and death from severe Covid-19 disease, said Dr Gilada.
 
He urged the government to provide a booster dose of Covid-19 vaccine to people aged 18 years and above for free. Currently, booster dose is available free of cost at government vaccination centres to the priority groups -the frontline workers, healthcare workers, and the elderly population aged above 60 years. For those aged 18-59, the precaution dose is available only at private vaccination centres.
 
Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan on July 6 dashed a letter to states and Union territories stating that a decision has been taken to administer the precautionary third dose to the adult population after completion of six months or 26 weeks from the date of administration of the second dose. ET Health