Government Will Tweak Vaccine Policy After NTAGI Report
Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.
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By Linus Garg
First publised on 2022-02-19 01:49:33
About the Author
Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.
View all posts by this Author
With Omicron becoming the dominant strain of Covid in infections in India, having a prevalence of 97% and even 100% in some areas and with the vaccination drive going on well, the government will modify the vaccine policy as early as March after inputs from National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI) for Covid-19. This is necessary as WHO has already warned that the threat of emergence of newer variants of Covid-19 remains.
NTAGI is crunching the data received from all sources to examine the efficacy of the vaccines, the need for the booster dose and the need for vaccinating younger children. Scientists are minutely examining the data received from Indian SAARS-CoV 2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) and the studies conducted by Christian Medical College (CMC) Vellore. While the former undertakes genomic surveillance of Covid cases, the latter is doing extensive research on the efficacy of vaccines against Omicron and the effect of booster dose in a homologous and heterologous mix.
The study to establish the need for booster doses - third and more to ward off future variants and increase immunity - is important as the situation worldwide is chaotic. It was seen in the US and other countries that despite booster doses, Omicron cases spread fast and infected a huge number of people. Further, adverse events have also been reported in some of the vaccinated persons who were given a fourth dose. Also, the need to vaccinate children in the age group of 12 to 15 years is also being studied. India is likely to receive 5 crore doses of the vaccine Corbevax this month for this age group.
A senior official of the NTAGI has said that "data is being collected about the value of all vaccines, their relative importance, what will be beneficial and better. This evaluation has to be done before moving forward because the scenario is rapidly changing." NTAGI is likely to give its recommendations in two weeks. After that, it will be upon the Centre to decide how to shape the vaccine policy going forward.
