Health Ministry Says No Mix And Match Of Vaccines For Third Dose: Report

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Saturday that the COVID-19 vaccine booster dose will be available from January 10. The healthcare workers, senior citizens and people with co-morbidities who took their second dose of the vaccine 9-12 months ago will be able to get the 'precaution' or third dose.

As per a report by NDTV, a senior health ministry source said that there will be no mix-and-match of vaccines for the crucial third dose which will be given out in the view of rising Omicron variant cases in India. If a person had taken two doses of Covishield, the third dose will also be of Covishield. The same goes for people who took Covaxin.

The gap between the second dose and the third is also stated as essential by the health ministry of India. The booster shot can only be taken by individuals if it has been 9-12 months since their second dose. As per a research study in the United Kingdom, mixing COVID-19 vaccines made people more immune to the coronavirus. The subjects of the study were reportedly given AstraZeneca or Pfizer-BioNTech shots along with Moderna shot nine weeks apart.

Suggested Reading: WHO Shares New Concern, In Singapore 2 Infected With Omicron Despite Booster Shots

In a report by Reuters, the Oxford professor behind the said study, Matthew Snape, said, "We found a really good immune response across the board..., in fact, higher than the threshold set by Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine two doses." However there has been no such study on the third dose or booster dose. It was also reported that the Covishield vaccine showed significant affect against the Omicron variant. Studies have shown that the immunity built after two doses of COVID-19 vaccine starts to wane after three months.

Before the Prime Minister's address on December 24, the Indian Medical Association had reportedly asked the government to start administering an additional dose of COVID-19 vaccine to the front-line workers, people with compromised immunity and health workers.

As per reports, the number of Omicron variant cases have crossed the 400 in India. The state of Maharashtra has reported the maximum number of cases.