NTAGI recommends reducing gap between COVID-19 booster doses to six months

The NTAGI, will, however, take a final decision on the matter on June 29.

Moneycontrol News

June 16, 2022 / 21:06 IST

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The National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI) -- a panel under the country's apex advisory group on immunization -- on June 16 recommended that the gap between two COVID-19 vaccine booster doses for adults be reduced from nine months to six months.

The NTAGI, will, however, take a final decision on the matter on June 29.

As of now, all adults in India are eligible for booster shots of the coronavirus vaccine only if they have completed nine months since their second dose. But, those traveling abroad are given an exemption depending on the requirement of the country they are visiting.

The Union Health Ministry had announced on April 8 that all coronavirus vaccine beneficiaries aged 18 years and above will be eligible to get COVID-19 vaccine booster doses at private vaccination centres starting April 10.

India is currently witnessing a surge in daily COVID-19 cases, with the country adding 12,213 new coronavirus infections in the past 24 hours (as of Thursday morning). This is the first time in the past 10 months that the country added more than 10,000 new COVID-19 cases in a single day. At present, Delhi and Mumbai have been witnessing a maximum surge in infections and active case tally.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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