No to vaccine mixing because current regime worked: Senior official

The decision to use the same vaccine as a precautionary dose, which was taken at a “high-level” meeting late Thursday evening, is based on the belief that the current regime has worked well for the Indian population so far.

A senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said experts also await data on mixing of vaccines by the Indian Institutes of Health and therefore “the government has decided to mix and match vaccines due to lack of data on the effectiveness of such strategies.” did not allow.” ,

He said it has been observed that giving the same dose as the third dose has “minimal risk”.

“Even the responsiveness has been observed to be less. It has been observed that till now the general reactions like fever, swelling etc. were very less in those who took the third dose,” the official said. The government opened up precautionary doses in January to people above 60 and to those who are immunocompromised and healthcare and frontline workers.

Samiran Panda, head of epidemiology and infectious diseases at the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), said, “The ministry has taken the decision on a scientific basis. There is scientific evidence that supports a homogenous vaccine regime.”

The official said that it is considered important to open the third dose to around 10-15% of the people who are at higher risk and since they are difficult to identify, it was decided to open it to everyone above 18 years of age.

Originally published at Pen 18