Amid widespread confusion over the government's classification of the third coronavirus vaccine shot for select groups as a "precaution dose" instead of a booster (commonly a different kind of vaccine), RS Sharma, chief of India's vaccination platform CoWIN, on Monday told NDTV that the portal will go with the official nomenclature.
"If the government calls it a precautionary dose, CoWIN is also going to call it the same. I can't imagine what a 4th or 5th dose will be called," Mr Sharma said, responding to a question on whether there will be a separate plan for booster doses.
"I am not very clear about the decision as to whether the third dose will be of the same brand as the first two. As and when that decision is taken because this thing whole thing is going to happen from 10th January. Accordingly, the CoWIN platform will be configured," he added.
A frontline worker or a person above 60 with illnesses who are eligible to take this precautionary dose as announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday will be able to sign up for it on the CoWIN website once nine months have passed since their second shot, Mr Sharma said.
"They will get an SMS on their phone once their third dose is due," Mr Sharma said.
Senior health ministry sources have told NDTV that unlike what most advanced countries are doing, there will be no mix-and-match of vaccines for the crucial third dose to be given in view of the Omicron variant that is rapidly spreading in the country.
Precaution doses will be a third dose of the same vaccine a person has taken - be it Covishield or Covaxin. The key aspect will be the gap - the third dose will be administered 9-12 months after the second dose to health and frontline workers and senior citizens with co-morbidities, sources said.
There has been considerable debate worldwide over whether mixing vaccines or sticking to the same vaccine for the third dose offers better protection. While specific data from both are yet to come in for booster doses, mixing vaccines for the first and second shots is seen to have triggered a more robust immune response.
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