Amid Covid spike, India to start mix-and-match booster vaccines from today

India

oi-Deepika S

New
Delhi,
Aug
12:
Amid
spike
in
Covid
cases,
India
will
on
Friday
start
using
Corbevax
as
precaution
dose
for
adults
fully-vaccinated
with
either
Covaxin
or
Covishield
vaccines.

The
Union
Health
Minister
on
Wednesday
approved
Corbevax
as
a
“heterologous”
booster
shot
for
those
above
18
years
vaccinated
with
either
Covishield
or
Covaxin.

The
gap
between
Corbevax’s
booster
dose
and
the
second
dose
of
the
either
Covaxin
or
Covishield
vaccines
will
be
six
months
or
26
weeks.

Uploading
Covid-19
vaccine
certificate
or
RT-PCR
report
may
soon
not
be
necessary
for
flyers

Corbevax,
India’s
first
indigenously
developed
RBD
protein
sub-unit
vaccine,
is
currently
being
used
to
vaccinate
children
between
12
to
14
years
of
age
under
the
COVID-19
immunisation
programme.

The
ministry
approved
Corbevax
as
booster
dose
on
the
recommendations
made
by
the
COVID-19
Working
Group
of
the
National
Technical
Advisory
Group
on
Immunisation
(NTAGI)
last
week.

This
is
the
first
time
a
booster
dose
of
a
COVID
vaccine
different
from
the
one
used
for
primary
vaccination
would
be
allowed
in
the
country.

Union
Health
Secretary
Rajesh
Bhushan,
in
a
detailed
statement,
said
that
there
will
be
no
change
in
the
existing
guidelines
for
the
homologous
precaution
doses
administered
for
Covaxin
and
Covishield
vaccines.
“In
addition
to
the
existing
homologous
precaution
dose,
the
option
of
a
hetelogous
precaution
dose
with
Corbevax
would
be
available
to
all
persons
above
18
years
of
age,”
Bhushan
said
in
his
letter.

Corbevax
got
the
Drugs
Controller
General
of
India’s
(DCGI)
approval
as
a
precaution
dose
for
those
aged
18
and
above
in
June.

The
administration
of
precaution
doses
of
vaccines
to
healthcare
and
frontline
workers
and
those
aged
60
and
above
with
comorbidities
started
from
January
10.

From
March
16,
the
Centre
removed
the
comorbidity
clause
making
all
people
aged
above
60
eligible
for
the
precaution
dose
of
COVID
vaccine.

All
aged
above
18
years
became
eligible
for
precaution
doses
of
COVID-19
vaccines
from
April
10.