No Guidelines On Covid Booster Dose, Necessity Yet To Be Decided: Centre Tells High Court

NTAGI and NEGVAC are deliberating and considering scientific evidence related to dose schedule of Covid-19 vaccines as well as the need and justification of booster doses.

New Delhi: Amid the ongoing debate over the need for a booster dose to further increase the level of protection against Coronavirus, the Centre on Tuesday informed High Court that at present there are no guidelines regarding the administration of the third shot by health experts

As per the submission made by the government in HC, the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI) and National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for Covid-19 (NEGVAC) are deliberating and considering scientific evidence related to dose schedule of Covid-19 vaccines as well as the need and justification of booster doses.

The government also reiterated that its current priority is to cover the entire eligible population with two doses of Covid-19 vaccine. 

"The current knowledge about duration of immunity offered by Covid-19 vaccines in India is limited and will clearly be known over a period of time only," the Centre said.

Reportedly, the NTAGI and NEGVAC are also keeping a close watch on surge of Covid cases, the Omicron variant and the effectiveness of current vaccines. A decision on inoculation of the third dose or booster shot of Covid-19 is likely to be taken soon.

Government's statement comes a month after the Delhi High Court asked it to submit a detailed report on aspects related to the effectiveness and necessity of the booster dose of Coronavirus amid growing advocacy of the third jab in several western countries.

Over 55% Population Fully Vaccinated

Meanwhile, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya today informed that over 55 per cent of India's adult population has received both the doses of Covid vaccine in the country. 55.52 per cent of the eligible population has been fully vaccinated with 87 per cent people receiving the first dose of the vaccine.

With the administration of 66,98,601 vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, India's COVID-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 133.88 crore, according to provisional reports.