India on Friday opened up precautionary vaccine doses (the third shot) for all aged 18 years and above from April 10. Paid vaccines will be available in private vaccination centres only.

All those who are 18 years and above; and have completed nine months post the administration of their second dose, will be eligible for the precaution dose , also called as booster shot.

“Precaution dose to be available to 18+ age group from April 10, 2022, at private vaccination centres,” the Union Health Minister, Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, said on Twitter.

This is in addition to the ongoing free vaccination programme through government vaccination centres – for first and second dose and the precaution dose – to healthcare workers, frontline workers and the population aged 60 year would continue and be accelerated, a government statement said.

About 96 per cent of all population aged 15 years and above in the country have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose while about 83 per cent of the population aged 15 years and above has received both the doses.

Booster shots will be homologous, that is a person who has taken two dosages of Covishield will have to take the third shot of Covishield only. Price of booster shots are currently at ₹780 per person for Covishield and ₹1,410 per person for Covaxin.

Whether there will be a change in prices or not are yet to be announced. “Detailed guidance note or guidelines will soon be issued by the Union Health Ministry,” sources said.

According to Dr Naresh Trehan, Chairman and Managing Director of Medanta – The Medicity, there was enough clinical data to show that booster dose is helping people in protecting them from infection.

“I think there was enough clinical data to show that booster dose is helping people and protecting them from infection and reinfection. Also, even if people get infected with the virus, the intensity is very mild,” he told BusinessLine.

“We have seen in patients that booster doses protect people especially when there is a gap of nine months,” Dr Trehan added.

Push for International Travel

The decision to open-up the booster to all adults also comes as other countries have recently been reporting a rise in infections. Indians are also finding it hard to travel abroad without a third dose. Countries like Israel do not consider complete vaccination until a third dose has been administered.

According to Himank Tripathi, Preisdent – External Affairs, EaseMyTrip – the country’s second largest online travel booking site – the announcement of the booster dose (for adults) will be a beneficial step to offer “an additional level of protection to travellers”

“It will enable Indians to travel to countries that are now imposing a requirement of a mandatory third vaccination or booster dose. There is a strong underlying pent-up travel demand, and the decision will accelerate resurgence of the travel industry to pre-pandemic levels,” he said.

High Stock at Hospitals

Incidentally, hospitals said they have more than enough stocks at their vaccination centres with some due to expire in May.

“Across three of our vaccine centres, not more than 100 doses, including booster doses for senior citizens, are being administered on a daily basis. Most of the stocks that expire are not returnable,” said the spokesperson of a Kolkata-based hospital adding that vaccination numbers have dipped post a flattening of the Omicron curve.

Despite concerns over new mutations which include the XE variant, infections in India have fallen to their lowest in more than a year, with 1,109 new cases reported in the past 24 hours and 43 deaths.

The country’s total infections stood at around 4.3 crore and 5.21 lakh deaths have been reported. Recovery rate stood at over 98 per cent.

Unutilized stock available with state governments and Union Territories was over 16 crore, the Centre said in a statement.

Vaccine Makers

Commenting on India approving the booster dose, Adar Poonawalla, CEO, Serum Institute of India, said: “We are delighted by GOI’s announcement on booster. The decision will further provide long term protection and aid ease of travel.”

Poonawalla during an interview to a private TV channel said, his company woud sell Covishield to hospitals for Rs 600 and the end-user will pay as per the COWIN decided price. He said, has more than 200 million doses in stock and there is hardly any export.

Serum Institute have reportedly stopped production for about a couple of months, since there are stocks available with them and with the States. The company can ramp up production, if required.

As far as production of Covaxin is concerned, Bharat Biotech was producing 55-60 million doses of Covaxin per month as of January 2022. However, it had announced last week that it was ‘slowing down’ production of Covaxin.

This suspension is in response to the outcomes of WHO post EUL inspection (14 – 22 March 2022) and the need to conduct process and facility upgrade to address recently identified GMP deficiencies.

Corbevax of Biological E Ltd will also be available for adults too in the private market, according to its Managing Director, Mahima Datla.

The company, however, has an order from the government to supply 30 crore doses for the public immunisation program for 12-14 year age group starting March 16. Biological E now has a capacity to produce 100 million doses per month. Corbevax is priced at Rs 990 a dose with GST.

(With inputs from G Naga Sridhar )

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