NEW DELHI: Amidst differing voices over booster shots among the Indian population, top microbiologist and virologist, Dr Gagandeep Kang on Saturday said that there is evidence that fresh doses benefit people with comorbidities and the elderly as they get 80 per cent protection against severe disease.
Speaking at a webinar “Omicron: Enigma or End?”, Dr Kang — who is a professor in the Department of Gastrointestinal Sciences at the Christian Medical College (CMC) in Vellore — said, “It does appear that boosters benefit most of the people that most need the vaccines like the elderly, people who have co-morbidity, and those who are most likely to be hospitalised. For them, booster seems to matter.”
Her comments came after media reports that experts from related fields have suggested that the third shot or the booster shot should not be expanded to other age groups and should be given only to health and frontline workers and people over 60 years.
Batting for a booster dose, Dr Kang said, “If you have two doses of vaccines and it has been less than six months, then you have reasonable protection against severe diseases. If it has been longer than six months, then that protection falls rapidly and if you get a booster dose and get boosted up again, you have 80 per cent protection against severe disease.”
On the dosing interval, she said, “Six months seems to be the right time to give a booster dose for populations that are clinically vulnerable.” India rolled out booster or precaution shots on January 10, and it is given nine months or 39 weeks after completing the second dose.
Professor KS Reddy, president of Public Health Foundation of India, said the Omicron variant is the dominant strain that is infecting a large number of people in India, but the severity is less as compared to Delta, which caused havoc in the second wave last year.