Necessity Of COVID Vaccine Booster Not Yet Decided, Central Govt Tells High Court

New Delhi: At a time when a large section of the population is looking forward to a booster shot of COVID-19 vaccine, the Central government told the Delhi High Court on Monday that there are no such guidelines at present from the country’s top expert bodies.

“The current knowledge about duration of immunity offered by Covid-19 vaccines in India is limited and will clearly be known over a period of time only,” the Centre stated.

The High Court had asked the Centre to submit a timeline of proposed rollout of booster doses, if booster was considered necessary.

The stated policy of the government has been to fully vaccinate the entire eligible population first. As of now, just over 50% of the adult population in India have received both doses of the COVID vaccine.

National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI) and National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for Covid-19 (NEGVAC) have been deliberating and considering scientific evidences related to dose schedule of COVID-19 vaccines as well as the need and justification of booster doses, the Union government submitted to the high court.

With a booster shot having been started in several countries to boost waning vaccine-induced immunity from coronavirus infection, the chorus for a similar decision is growing by the day in India.

Last week, Union Health minister Mansukh Mandaviya said in Lok Sabha that India’s booster dose policy will not be a political decision, but rather on the basis of approval from two expert bodies.