As vaccination is one of the strongest pillars of protection against concerns arising from the emergence of the new COVID-19 variant Omicron, the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI) in its meeting on Monday discussed the issues of giving ‘extra’ doses. discussed. of COVID vaccine for vaccination of immunocompromised persons as well as children.
According to an official source, the members could not reach a consensus and no final recommendations have been made on these issues so far.
Sources said the issue of booster dose was not on the agenda of the meeting as studies need to be done to ascertain its need and value.
Officials said that since an additional dose of a vaccine is different from a booster dose, a person is given a booster dose after a pre-determined period, when the immune response declines due to the primary vaccination, the additional shot is given. Is. For immunized and immunized individuals when the primary schedule of vaccination does not provide adequate protection against disease.
“The issue of giving additional doses of Covid-19 to immunocompromised and immunocompromised persons and vaccination of children against Covid-19 was discussed in the meeting of NTAGI.
Cancer patients, transplant patients and AIDS patients on therapy are among those who fall under the immunosuppressive and immunosuppressant categories and require additional doses of vaccine to improve their protection.
Experts said that vaccination is one of the strongest pillars of protection against disease and infection even in the backdrop of the emergence of new forms of coronavirus like Omicron.
Recently, Serum Institute of India (SII) sought drug regulator approval for Covishield as a booster dose against Covid-19.
INSACOG on November 29 recommended a booster dose of COVID-19 vaccines for people over 40 years of age, with preference to high-risk and high-risk populations. On Saturday, however, it said that their recommendation was not for a national vaccination program as many more scientific experiments are needed to assess its impact.
Regarding giving booster dose, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has told Lok Sabha that NTAGI and National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for Kovid-19 (NEGVAC) are looking and considering the scientific evidence related to this.
Omicrons have been declared a ‘type of concern’ by the World Health Organization based on their predicted characteristics of observed mutations, increased transmission and immune evasion, and preliminary evidence of deleterious changes in the COVID-19 epidemiology, such as increased retransmission.
While there is no evidence that existing vaccines do not work on the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, some of the reported mutations may reduce the efficacy of JABS, the Union Health Ministry said, adding that there is no definitive evidence for the new variants. Underlining. Enhanced remission and immunity evasion, awaited.
It is important to highlight that Omicrons have been declared a ‘type of concern’ (VOC) based on the observed mutations, their predicted characteristics of increased transmission and immune evasion, and preliminary evidence of deleterious changes in the COVID-19 epidemiology, such as enhanced retransmissions.
According to WHO, definitive proof of enhanced remission and immunity evasion is awaited.
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