No final recommendation on additional COVID vaccine dose, vaccine for children in NTAGI meeting: Official sources

By Shalini Bhardwaj
New Delhi [India], December 7 : After a long meeting of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI) on Monday, no final recommendation was made on additional COVID-19 vaccine dose and vaccine for children, informed the official sources.
However, both the issues were discussed in the meeting and the booster dose was not on the agenda of today's meeting, official sources told ANI.
"The meeting put light on COVID-19 vaccination, additional doses and vaccination for children but due to no consensus over the issues final recommendation couldn't be made," sources said.
As earlier, it has been reported that NTAGI will be coming with comprehensive policies for both booster dose and vaccination for children.
There is a difference between the booster dose and the additional dose. The booster dose is given after a predefined period after the primary two-dose have been given while an additional dose is given to those people who have basic problems with their immune system.
With the primary two doses, if the immune function is not built properly, the additional dose of the COVID-19 vaccine is given.
This decision has also to be taken in the context as India reports 23 new cases of COVID-19 Omicron variant.
On administration of booster doses, the Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya had recently informed the Lok Sabha that the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI) and the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 (NEGVAC) were deliberating and considering scientific evidence related to this aspect.