HCWs were the first to be vaccinated when the inoculation drive was rolled out in mid-January this year. For many who took the vaccine at the very beginning, it is already seven to eight months after completion of the vaccination, causing an anxiety about waning protection against the virus.
Across-section of medical experts have supported the demand for booster doses, especially for sections of the population that are more vulnerable or exposed to the virus. It makes sense at a time when an uptick in the virus’s spread is coinciding with reopening of sectors.
“I was among the first lot to take the jab on January 16 and I got my second dose by March first week. It is high time that the government comes out with a policy to offer a booster dose to HCWs at least to begin with,” said a doctor at government run Medical College Hospital Kolkata.
A booster dose is an additional shot to prevent fading away of the protection provided by the original dosage. Few developed countries like USA and UK have already started administering the booster dose to its HCWs.
“The booster dose is the need of the hour. But when exactly to give the booster shot for the best result is also a question. Assessing of such timings should be done soon so that booster dose can be offered at the earliest as the immune response of the vaccine is expected to start depleting after nine months,” said Prabhash Prasun Giri, associate professor of paediatrics at Institute of Child Health.
Organisations like Association of Health Service Doctors (AHSD) have written to Mamata Banerjee appealing to the Bengal CM to take up the booster shot issue with competent technical body at the national level.
“We strongly demand booster doses to be given to doctors and other HCWs at the earliest,” said AHSD general secretary Manas Gumta professor of surgery.
Senior clinical pharmacologist Santanu Tripathi said protection through vaccines is not for indefinite period; hence there is some justification in the demand for booster doses at least for those vulnerable like the doctors.
“Beyond nine months of taking the second dose the protection would start waning. How fast the depletion will be is still a matter of study/investigation. The booster dose will be required. However, it will face logistic challenges given the demand-supply mismatch and the fact that we still have a large population yet to get even a single dose. The government should consider the pros and cons before introducing the booster dose,” said Tripathi.
Director of pulmonology at CMRI Raja Dhar is hopeful of a booster dose soon but felt the need to wait for at least 50% of the eligible population of the country to get the two doses before a booster dose is rolled out.
“Once we have around 50% of eligible population inoculated with both the doses we can start offering the booster dose starting with HCWs and then go onto other people in high-risk group like those with co-morbidity etc,” said Dhar.
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/docs-healthworkers-demand-booster-shot/articleshow/87559868.cms
