Covishield booster dose: Subject Expert Committee to meet today to discuss approval

According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, India has administered over 140 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses so far. More than 67 lakh (67,11,113) doses were administered till 7 pm on Thursday.

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New Delhi: The Subject Expert Committee (SEC) under the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) will hold the first meeting on Friday (December 10) regarding the COVID-19 booster dose, amid the government that COVID-19 vaccination coverage in the country has crossed 131 crore mark (131,09,90,768) on Thursday.

The Serum Institute of India (SII) has recently filed an application with the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) regarding approval for a booster dose of Covishield. It has cited that there is adequate stock of the Covid vaccine in the country now and a demand for a booster shot is there due to the emergence of new coronavirus variants, said an ANI report.

The Serum Institute is the first vaccine manufacturing company in India to apply for approval for Covishield as a booster dose.

The SEC meeting in this regard will start at 12 pm on Friday. Many experts have also recommended booster doses in India especially after the emergence of new highly transmissible COVID-19 variant Omicron, but the government is yet to take any decision in this context.

The National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation in India (NTAGI) recently conducted a virtual meeting regarding the additional dose of COVID-19 vaccines in India, but no consensus was reached on the issue.

The SII, however, started shipping the Covishield vaccine from January this year and has crossed the one billion dose landmark in the last week of November. 

Meanwhile, India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage has crossed 131 crore mark (131,09,90,768) on Thursday. More than 67 lakh (67,11,113) doses were administered till 7 pm yesterday, said the government.

Later a press release from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare stated that India has administered over 140 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses so far. 

According to the press release, more than 140 crore (1,40,01,00,230) vaccine doses have been provided to States/UTs so far through the Government of India (free of cost channel) and through direct state procurement category.

More than 19 crore (19,08,75,946) balance and unutilized COVID Vaccine doses are still available with the States/UTs to be administered.

In the new phase of the universalization of the COVID19 vaccination drive, the Union Government will procure and supply (free of cost) 75 per cent of the vaccines being produced by the vaccine manufacturers in the country to States and UTs, it said.

Notably, the countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 with healthcare workers (HCWs) getting inoculated in the first phase, while the vaccination of frontline workers (FLWs) started from February 2.

The next phase of vaccination commenced from March 1 for people over 60 years of age and those aged 45 and above with specified co-morbid conditions.

The vaccination for all people aged more than 45 years was launched from April 1, and the government later decided to expand the vaccination drive by allowing everyone above 18 to be vaccinated from May 1. 

(With Agency Inputs)