1st dose to be given as booster to those vaccinated with Sputnik V, NTAGI recommends

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The first dose of Sputnik V vaccine can be administered as the precaution dose to all those vaccinated with the Russian COVID-19 jab, an NTAGI panel has recommended, official sources told PTI on Saturday. The two doses of Sputnik V vaccine have separate compositions.

Currently, there is no policy decision on providing a precaution dose to those inoculated with the Russian vaccine. The CoWIN portal does not show the option of precaution dose for Sputnik V.

Many Sputnik V recipients who had taken their second dose way back in July last year are unable to get the booster shot. The two doses of Sputnik V are administered at a gap of 21-30 days.

The first dose of the vaccine contains a recombinant adenovirus type 26 (rAd26-S) and the second dose a recombinant adenovirus 5 (rAd5-S), an official explained. "The NTAGI's Standing Technical Sub-Committee (STSC), which held its meeting on Friday, discussed the issue and recommended that the first dose of Sputnik V can be given as the precaution dose to all those vaccinated with the Russian jab," an official source told PTI.

The National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) is an advisory committee comprising multidisciplinary experts responsible for providing information and recommendations to the government for making evidence-based decisions regarding vaccine and immunisation policy.

The Union health ministry is learnt to have received several representations over the precaution dose of Sputnik V. According to sources, more than six lakh people have received the Russian vaccine. 

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