With the ‘precaution’ Covid-19 vaccines set to be available to all aged above 18 years at private vaccination centres from April 10, the focus now falls on whether these booster doses will help placate the effects of upcoming pandemic waves in India, amid resurgences of variants.
While the third wave, spurred by the highly-transmissible Omicron variant, may have subsided in the country, there are now fresh alarm bells over the discovery of the infectious XE mutant. The development comes amid expanding vaccination drives in states, even as lockdowns and virus restrictions are lifted.
News18 takes a look at what the facilitation of the booster dose drive may bring:
Demand to be Low Initially?
Nearly 86.7 percent of all Indian adults have received two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, but only 2.6 percent of all adults have received a booster shot. This means that if every adult in India decides to get a booster shot, more than 916 million people across all categories may require one, according to reports.
The precaution dose will be of the same vaccine as the first and the second dose as of now. Those above the age of 18 who have completed nine months after the administration of the second dose will be eligible for the precaution dose, the ministry said.
This, according to a report by the Hindustan Times, may drive an upside to India’s ‘patchy’ rate of vaccination, as the demand for boosters is not expected to emerge immediately and will only move in proportion to the rate of vaccination nine months prior.
The report further illustrates that because Covishield has a longer minimum dose gap (of 12 weeks versus four weeks for Covaxin), people in the 18-45 age group who received their first Covishield shot on May 1 (the first day they became eligible) could only receive their second shot on July 25.
By adding nine months to that date, this group will be able to receive their first booster shot on April 25. This means that during the first 15-20 days of the booster drive, demand is expected to be low – the only people who will be eligible are those over the age of 45, or those between the ages of 18 and 45 who received a Covaxin shot.
Is Booster Dose Effective?
A range of studies have illustrated the effectiveness of the booster dose in aiding ‘waning’ immunity of the second shot of Covid-19 vaccines, and further preventing the risk of severe disease and hospitalisation.
In a reality where the pandemic may never leave us, experts have often hypothesised of a future where regular boosters of the Covid-19 vaccine may become norm.
While the Delta variant caused misery across the globe in 2021, the Omicron variant is said to have been established as the ‘dominant variant’ of Covid-19 spreading currently.
And a new study has said that people who are vaccinated and have had a booster shot against Covid-19 recover from symptoms from the Omicron variant more than three days earlier than those with the Delta variant.
The study also found that people with Omicron are significantly less likely to lose their sense of smell, and confirmed previous research that it is less severe.
To find out the differences in how Omicron and Delta make sufferers sick, researchers used a free smartphone app called ZOE on which more than 63,000 vaccinated people in Britain aged 16-99 self-reported their Covid symptoms between June 2021 and January 2022.
For those with two vaccine doses plus a booster, symptoms from Omicron lasted 4.4 days, compared to 7.7 for Delta — a difference of 3.3 days.
People who had two doses but no booster shot saw Omicron symptoms clear up in 8.3 days, compared to 9.6 days for Delta, according to the study published in the Lancet medical journal.
The swifter recovery suggests “that the period of infectiousness might be shorter, which would in turn impact workplace health policies and public health guidance,” the researchers said.
The study, which will be presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases in Lisbon later this month, also found that only 17 percent of those with Omicron lost their sense of smell, compared to 53 percent for Delta.
However people with Omicron had a 55-percent increased risk of getting a sore throat, and were 24 percent more likely to develop a hoarse voice.
The study also found that Omicron patients were 25 percent less likely to be admitted to hospital.
Study author Cristina Menni of King’s College London said it was the first peer-reviewed paper with a large number of participants that looked at the different symptoms of the two variants.
While the study covered a period before the Omicron BA.2 variant swept the world, “recent data from the app show no change in symptoms in BA.2 compared to BA.1,” she told AFP.
Where Should You Get the Booster?
While the ongoing free vaccination programme through government vaccination centres for the first and the second dose to the eligible population as well as the precaution dose to healthcare workers, frontline workers and those above 60 would continue, booster doses will be available at private centres for now.
You can check out details and FAQs about registration, prices here.
So far, about 96 per cent of all those above the age of 15 years in the country have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, while about 83 per cent have received both doses.
More than 2.4 crore precaution doses have also been administered to healthcare workers, frontline workers and those aged above 60 years. Besides, 45 per cent of beneficiaries in the 12-14 years age group have also received the first dose.
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