The government said that there is no need to panic due to rising Covid cases.
Precautionary vaccine doses for Covid are primarily to mitigate the severity of infection, hospitalisation, and death, the Centre's top medical research body said in a press conference today. The government also pointed out that post-vaccination immunity against the virus lasts up to nine months. There is no need to panic due to rising Covid cases as we are prepared for a surge, it added.
"All Covid vaccines, whether they are from India, Israel, US, Europe, UK, or China, are primarily disease-modifying. They don't prevent infection. The precautionary dose is primarily to mitigate the severity of infection, hospitalisation, and death," Dr Balram Bhargava, Director General of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said.
Approximately 90% of the adult population in India has been vaccinated against Covid with the first dose, the Union Health Ministry told reporters and added that many have had multiple exposures to the SARS-CoV2 antigen as some of the vaccinated individuals had prior symptomatic infections while some others had unrecognised asymptomatic infections.
The government is taking various steps to ensure wider vaccination coverage, including sending SMS messages to the eligible elderly population to remind them to take the precautionary vaccine dose for Covid that starts from January 10, the ministry said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on December 25 announced that the country would begin administering 'precautionary doses' to those above the age of 60 and suffering from co-morbidities from January 10, next year. They do not need to show a doctor's certificate or prescription proving they belong to the high-risk category to be eligible for the booster dose.
Medical professionals and frontline workers will also be eligible for the booster vaccine dose starting the same day.
However, all those eligible for booster shots will be able to get them only after 9 months of receiving the second dose of the Covid vaccine, according to Dr. R S Sharma, Chief Executive officer at the National Health Authority.
Amid speculations around the vaccine that would be used for the booster dose, senior health ministry officials had recently told NDTV that there will be no mix-and-match of vaccines for the crucial third dose.
15 to 18-year-olds will also be eligible to get Covid vaccination starting January 3. Both walk-in and online registration through the government's CoWIN portal are allowed for them.