New Delhi: No mixing of two different vaccines of COVID-19 vaccines will take place for the precaution dose announced for healthcare and frontline workers starting January 10, 2022, sources told NDTV. And citizens above 60 years facing co-morbidities, too will have the option of taking precaution dose on the advice of their doctor.
Precaution doses will be a third dose of the same vaccine a person has taken, whether it is Serum Institute's Covishield or Bharat Biotech's Covaxin. The key aspect will be gap -- the third dose will be administered 9-12 months after the second dose to health and frontline workers and senior citizens with co-morbidities, the report said.
CoWIN chief Dr RS Sharma said, those 60 years and above will be eligible for registration if the gap between the second dose and the day you are registering is more than 9 months (39 weeks).
"The process will be exactly the same. If you are above 60 years of age and have taken both doses and the gap between the second dose and the day you are registering is more than 9 months (39 weeks) then you are eligible", the CoWIN platform Chief said.
There has been considerable debate worldwide over whether mixing vaccines or sticking to the same vaccine for the third dose offers better protection. While specific data from both are yet to come in for booster doses, mixing vaccines for the first and second shots is seen to have triggered a more robust immune response.
A key study from the UK into mixing COVID-19 vaccines has found that people had a better immune response when they received a first dose of AstraZeneca or Pfizer-BioNTech shots followed by Moderna nine weeks later, according to the results on Monday.
Meanwhile, in his address to the nation, the Prime Minister said the government was following scientific advice in the vaccination drive against COVID-19.
The Prime Minister on the move to provide vaccination to children in the 15-18 age group, said that it is likely to aid in education normalization in schools and will reduce the worry of the parents with school-going children.
