Booster dose to primarily mitigate these 3 things, says centre

Mangalore Today News Network / NDTV

New Delhi, Dec 30, 2021: 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.