COVID Booster Dose: No Mix-&-Match, Will Be Same Vaccine, Indicates Report; For More Details Check

New Delhi/Bhubaneswar: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced COVID ‘precautionary’ or ‘booster’ doses for healthcare and frontline workers and those aged over 60 with comorbidities.

So, which vaccine will be administered as ‘booster’ dose? Will it be a mix-and-match vaccine? Will it be a different one from the first two doses you have taken? There has been discussions across the country after the PM’s announcement over which offers the best protection as booster dose: mix-and-match or same vaccine?

The booster dose won’t be a mix-and-match vaccine, the NDTV reported on Monday, citing senior health ministry sources.

It will be the same vaccine a person has taken, the report said. And it will be administered 9-12 months after the second dose.

India has, at present, four approved vaccines — Covishield, Covaxin, Sputnik V and Zydus Cadila. Majority of Indians have taken Covishield as first two doses.

On the Odisha’s preparedness, state Family Welfare Director and vaccination in-charge Dr Bijay Panigrahi said on Monday, “We have 52.37 lakh people in 60-plus age group, but only those with co-morbidities will be able to take the third dose. The earlier guidance note said that there should be no interchangeability of vaccines.”