COVID-19 working group of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI) has proposed that preventive doses be administered before nine months for people traveling abroad, depending on the needs of the receiving country.
NTAGI discussed and recommended this at a meeting on Wednesday.
However, no proposal has been made to reduce the space between booster doses for everyone.
Experts are split on whether or not to minimize the time between booster doses in India.
According to official data, fewer people have expressed interest in receiving the third dose as a precautionary dose, despite the fact that it is permitted by the Indian government for those above the age of 18.
The longer the gap between the first vaccination and the third dosage against COVID-19 infection, according to Dr. Rajeev Jayadevan, co-chairman of the Indian Medical Association’s (IMA) COVID-19 national task force, the better the individual’s protection.
He explained, “We discovered that whether the beneficiary’s second dose was given recently or not made no difference. To put it another way, you’re already safe. However, if a third dose is given, there is no significant change.”
On April 10, 2022, private vaccination centres began administering the preventive dose to those aged 18 and up. Those who are over the age of 18 and have been on the second dose for at least 9 months are eligible for the precaution dose.
Meanwhile, on January 10 of this year, India began giving precautionary dosages to frontline employees, healthcare personnel, and those over 60 with comorbidities. On March 16, the immunization campaign for the prophylactic dosage was expanded to include all individuals over the age of 60.
