COVID-19 resurgence: Will we need second booster or fourth vaccine dose? Experts weigh in

New Delhi, Dec 28: As Covid gets back on the radar with a surge in China and people worry about another wave in India, questions are being raised whether the government should now allow a second booster shot to add to the two-jab protection or consider a fourth dose.

In a meeting with Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, Indian Medical Association (IMA) and other top doctors and public health experts urged to allow people to take their second booster doses, reports said.

Dr. JA Jayalal, former president of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) stated that the government was urged to consider a fourth dose for the population, particularly healthcare workers and frontline workers, the Hindustan Times reported.

As of now, booster dose coverage in India, which is permitted for all aged 18 years and above, stands at just 30 percent of the eligible population group. These shots are provided free of cost to those above 60 years of age but people aged 18-59 years can only get them in private hospitals at predetermined rates.

However, immunologist Bal disagreed, stressing that a fourth Covid vaccine dose is unwarranted at the moment for multiple reasons.

"Most Indians above the age of 18 have got their first dose but a very high number have not gotten second or third doses. So if the doctors are demanding an additional booster, it is a panic response, without reality check," Vineeta Bal, from IISER Pune, told PTI.

According to Bal, the number of daily cases should be monitored, people landing at the airport should be initially tested randomly and routinely tested if cases increase. Getting sequencing done on a subset of RT-PCR positive samples at the very least is essential since the variant prevalent in China, BF.7, is rarely identified in India, she said.

Countries such as the US and UK are administering third and fourth booster doses to fully vaccinated individuals as well as extra shots to the immunocompromised who did not have a strong immune response from their initial doses, asreported by PTI.

Meanwhile, the government on Wednesday cautioned that the next 40 days will be crucial as India may see a Covid surge in January. However, Anurag Agrawal, director of the CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB) said the likelihood of a new big COVID-19 wave in India is very low. "No quick steps are required right now beyond what is already done," Agrawal told PTI. "Alertness and tracking of our own data is mostly what is required. There are many trajectories in other countries that we haven't followed as well," he added.