Booster dose possible for serious patients: National Advisory Group will prepare policy in 2 weeks, may also decide on vaccination of 44 crore children

It is also feared that the Omicron variant of Corona will reach India. Meanwhile, the chairman of the country’s Kovid Task Force, Dr. NK Arora has said that the government is going to bring a new policy on additional doses of vaccine for critical patients and people with weak immunity. The National Technical Advisory Group (NTAG) will prepare this policy in 2 weeks. NTAG is also going to bring a new policy for the vaccination of 44 crore children of the country.

Arora said- Many labs in the country are currently examining the efficacy of the vaccine present in India on the new variant. It may take 2 weeks. Only then will we know to what extent Covaxin, CoviShield and other vaccines are capable of fighting the new virus.

Booster dose to the elderly in many countries

In countries like the US, UK and Israel, booster doses are already being given to people in the high risk category.

According to NDTV, when asked about the booster dose for the elderly, Dr. Arora said – After the new variant of Corona came to the fore, booster doses are being given to the elderly in many countries. These include America, Britain and Israel. Booster means that we will need 94 crore more doses. These cannot be prepared in one night. However, there is no shortage of vaccine in the country.

Arora said – 12 to 15 crore people in the country have not received a single dose of the vaccine. 30 crore people have not received the second dose. It is clear that we have to speed up the vaccination. This should be done on priority basis.

There is no Omicron case in the country
So far, not a single case of Omicron has been reported in India. Two South African nationals who arrived in Bengaluru earlier this month were found to be Corona positive. One of them has been found infected with the Delta strain. Karnataka Health Minister Dr. K Sudhakar said – Test samples have been sent to the labs for genome sequencing. We are very cautious on the Omicron strain.

Dr. Samiran Panda, Chief of Epidemiology at the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has expressed the possibility of Omicron already present in India. Panda said that the information about this variant will be revealed only through tests.