Prime Minister Narendra Modi, not unlike a Santa Claus who enters homes without warning and leaves presents, suddenly Christmas night announced That the ‘precautionary’ or third dose of the vaccine would be available from January 10 to health care, frontline workers and people over 60 on the advice of their doctors. Vaccines will also be available for people aged 15-18 from January 3. Since the emergence of Omicron, there’s been an uproar among seniors for booster shots. However, the announcement was almost accompanied by another important development: Covaxin is being approved by the Drug Controller General of India for use over the age of 12, This will make it the second vaccine after Zykov-D (which is yet to come to market) has to be approved in the more than 12 years category. There are about 44 crore Indians under the age of 18, of whom a third are 12-17 years old. Experience with Covaxin has shown that despite approval on the same day as Covashield this January, it has been massively slow, with the two-dose vaccine accounting for about 10% of the approximately 141 million doses. which has been administered. Far flung. Given that the output of the ZyCov-D is unknown, it is not clear whether it will be practically available in January 2022.
However, the sudden announcement of the Prime Minister is also surprising. For more than a month, a National Technical Advisory Group Committee on Immunization in India has reportedly been weighing the pros and cons of approving vaccines for children and senior citizens. Just a day before Mr Modi’s announcement, the ICMR chief had said the matter was still under debate in India’s medico-bureaucratic hierarchy. These included key questions as to the extent to which antibody levels increased or decreased after vaccination, whether a booster dose of the same vaccine would be effective, and whether Covaxin and Covishield were differently protective against Omicron. At a later point, it was said that the ICMR was waiting for the data as the Omicron variant was not yet artificially developed in its laboratories. These questions have public health consequences. While 90% of adults have received a single dose and more than 70% of Indians have been exposed to the virus in the past 20 months, there are 40% of adults who have not received a second shot. With the demand for first shots dwindling and with private hospitals claiming the excess stock, it is very likely that India’s economic elite and their teens will drain the available stock. It is also unusual that the technical approvals for vaccines are for people 12 and over, but Mr. Modi announced that these would be for people aged 15 and over. It is not clear whether there is evidence that this group of sub-adults is more vulnerable. India’s health administration should be transparent with data in hand and not allow itself to fall into the trap of political calculations.
MORE, MORE FOR: On COVID-19 Vaccines for Children and Boosters for the Older
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, not unlike a Santa Claus who enters homes without warning and leaves presents, suddenly Christmas night announced That the ‘precautionary’ or third dose of the vaccine would be available from January 10 to health care, frontline workers and people over 60 on the advice of their doctors. Vaccines will also be available for people aged 15-18 from January 3. Since the emergence of Omicron, there’s been an uproar among seniors for booster shots. However, the announcement was almost accompanied by another important development: Covaxin is being approved by the Drug Controller General of India for use over the age of 12, This will make it the second vaccine after Zykov-D (which is yet to come to market) has to be approved in the more than 12 years category. There are about 44 crore Indians under the age of 18, of whom a third are 12-17 years old. Experience with Covaxin has shown that despite approval on the same day as Covashield this January, it has been massively slow, with the two-dose vaccine accounting for about 10% of the approximately 141 million doses. which has been administered. Far flung. Given that the output of the ZyCov-D is unknown, it is not clear whether it will be practically available in January 2022.
However, the sudden announcement of the Prime Minister is also surprising. For more than a month, a National Technical Advisory Group Committee on Immunization in India has reportedly been weighing the pros and cons of approving vaccines for children and senior citizens. Just a day before Mr Modi’s announcement, the ICMR chief had said the matter was still under debate in India’s medico-bureaucratic hierarchy. These included key questions as to the extent to which antibody levels increased or decreased after vaccination, whether a booster dose of the same vaccine would be effective, and whether Covaxin and Covishield were differently protective against Omicron. At a later point, it was said that the ICMR was waiting for the data as the Omicron variant was not yet artificially developed in its laboratories. These questions have public health consequences. While 90% of adults have received a single dose and more than 70% of Indians have been exposed to the virus in the past 20 months, there are 40% of adults who have not received a second shot. With the demand for first shots dwindling and with private hospitals claiming the excess stock, it is very likely that India’s economic elite and their teens will drain the available stock. It is also unusual that the technical approvals for vaccines are for people 12 and over, but Mr. Modi announced that these would be for people aged 15 and over. It is not clear whether there is evidence that this group of sub-adults is more vulnerable. India’s health administration should be transparent with data in hand and not allow itself to fall into the trap of political calculations.
,