Bhubaneswar: The government has decided against reducing the gap between the second dose of COVID-19 vaccine and the ‘precaution dose’ to six months, the news agency ANI reported quoting sources on Saturday.
The decision was taken in a meeting held by the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) on Friday.
Currently, all those who are more than 18 years of age and have completed nine months after receiving the second dose of the vaccine are eligible for the precaution dose.
Studies at ICMR and other international research institutions have, however, suggested that antibody level wanes after about six months from the primary vaccination with both doses and giving a booster increases the immune response.
Vaccine major Serum Institute of India (SII) had also appealed to the government to reduce the gap between the second and booster dose to six months to safeguard people against emerging COVID variants. “The uptake (for precaution dose) right now is a bit slow as we have a rule that you have to wait for nine months between dose two and dose three. We have appealed to the government and the experts, who are having discussions regarding the matter, to reduce this period to six months,” CEO Adar Poonawalla said during an AIMA event here.
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