Officials said on Monday that the issues of administering 'additional dose of Covid vaccine to immunocompromised individuals and inoculation of children were being deliberated on at a meeting of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization NTAGI.
The members haven't reached a consensus on the issue and no final recommendation has been made on these issues as of now, according to the source.
The issue of booster dose is not on the agenda of the meeting as studies need to be conducted to ascertain its need and value, according to sources.
An additional dose of a vaccine is different from a booster dose.
A booster dose is given to an individual after a pre-defined period when the immune response is presumed to have declined, but additional shot is given to immunocompromised and immunosuppressed individuals when the primary vaccine schedule does not provide adequate protection from the disease, officials said.
The issue of administering additional dose of COVID 19 to immunocompromised and immunosuppressed individuals and vaccination of children against COVID 19 was discussed at the meeting of the NTAGI.
Cancer patients on therapy, transplant patients and AIDS patients are among those who are immunocompromised and immunosuppressed and need additional dose of vaccine to improve their protection.
Despite the emergence of new variants of coronaviruses like Omircron, vaccination remains one of the strongest pillars of protection against disease and infection, experts said.
Recently, Serum Institute of India SII sought approval from the Drug Regulator for Covishield as a booster dose against COVID-19. In its bulletin on November 29, the INSACOG recommended a booster dose of COVID- 19 vaccines for those over 40 years with preference to high-risk and high-exposure populations. It said their recommendation was not for the national immunisation programme, as many more scientific experiments are required to assess its impact.
The NTAGI and the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration are considering scientific evidence related to the administering booster doses, according to the Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya. The Health Ministry has said that while there is no evidence to suggest that existing vaccines do not work on the latest variant, some of the mutations reported may reduce the efficacy of the jabs.
There is evidence for the increased remission and immune evasion of the new variant.
Immunization and cellular immunity, which are expected to be preserved, are some of the things that are expected to be better preserved. The vaccine is expected to provide protection against severe disease and is crucial for the existence of a vaccine. If eligible, one should get vaccinated, it said.
Omicron has been declared a variant of concern'' by the World Health Organisation based on the observed mutations, their predicted features of increased transmission and immune evasion and preliminary evidence of detrimental change in COVID 19 epidemiology, such as increased reinfections.