The Subject Expert Committee (SEC) will hold a meeting today to take a final call on allowing booster doses of Covid-19 vaccines amid the growing Omicron threat, news agency ANI reported.
Today's meeting comes days after the Serum Institute of India (SII) sought permission from the Drugs Controller General of India (DGCI) to use its Covishield vaccine as a booster dose. The Pune-based Biotechnology company cited adequate stock of the vaccine in the country and demanded a booster shot due to the emergence of new coronavirus variants.
The SII in its application noted that the United Kingdom’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has already approved the booster dose of AstraZeneca ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine. Covishield is the India-made version of this vaccine.
Dr Reddy’s Laboratories has also filed an application seeking permission for a Phase 3- trial to evaluate the efficacy and safety of the Sputnik Light vaccine as a booster. Notably, Sputnik Light has not yet received emergency use authorisation from the DGCI.
Last month, the INSACOG had recommended a booster dose of COVID-19 vaccines for those above 40 years with preference to high-risk and high-exposure populations. However, later it said their recommendation was not for the national immunisation programme as many more scientific experiments are required to assess its impact.
The recent emergence of highly transmissible variants of SARS-CoV-2 has led to considerations for booster doses to enhance immunity and provide sustained protection from COVID-19. It is being believed that after getting vaccinated against COVID-19, protection against the virus may decrease over time and be less effective against the virus. Therefore, a booster dose after the second dose is needed.
A booster dose of COVID-19 vaccines, administered months after primary vaccination, is expected to augment immunity against the virus, including neutralizing capacity against the 'variants of concern'.
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