Precautionary dose is needed as the protection against the virus declining, said Dr VK Paul, chair of the National Task Force on Covid-19, in an exclusive interview with CNBC-TV18, as India crossed the 200-crore-mark in vaccinations on Sunday.
“We need to have an optimal protection beyond six months of the second dose. The precaution dose must be pushed in mission mode,” said Paul, adding, “The number of cases is rising in a number of countries.”
“The pandemic is at a low phase and there is a fatigue in people’s mind. We need to make sure that we are fully protected,” he said.
Paul said the government is “mindful of the fact that vaccine availability is not an issue”. “Now, the idea is to give a boost to the uptake of precautionary dose,” he said.
Refusing to give the data on how many doses are expiring in August-September, he said, “The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) will take a call on mixing of doses. Post which, the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) will see how it can be included in the vaccination drive.”
According to Paul, the endeavour is to have a pipeline of vaccines. “For instance, the mRna vaccine can be a gamechanger for dengue and flu also. So the vaccine platform, once available, can be used for other diseases also,” he said, adding, “The Gennova mRna vaccine offers such an opportunity. We are working with the company to see if such an advancement can be done. We are working with them to see if it can be improvised.”
Paul said they have chalked out a strategy for now and they have “other options coming in”. “The intra-nasal vaccine is in phase three of the trial,” he said.
RECORD VACCINATIONS
India has crossed record 200-crore mark in Covid-19 vaccinations within 18 months of launching the inoculation exercise in January last year. The last 100-crore vaccinations were done in nine months, the same time period for the first 100 crore vaccinations, showing that the pace did not slacken.
Government officials said the proactive strategic and policy-level leadership by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which included the Make-in-India and Make-for-World mantra, has helped the country achieve this goal where nearly every adult has been fully vaccinated with Made-in-India vaccines.
A seven-phase vaccination drive was followed on the principle of Prioritization for Vaccine. Administration based on scientific advice and global best practices, government officials told News18.
India has since long surpassed entire Europe where the vaccination numbers stand at about 130 crore.
India has not only administered 200 crore doses to its citizens, but also exported over 23 crore vaccine doses to over 50 countries and still has nearly 10 crore doses in stock – implying the country produced nearly 233 crore vaccine doses in the last 18 months.
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