Trials for the efficacy of a third booster dose of the country’s homegrown vaccine Covaxin, manufactured by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech, started on Monday at AIIMS Delhi and AIIMS Patna.
The booster dose is to be given six months after the participants had received their second dose in the trial, which had taken place between September and October 2020.
Bharat Biotech had got permission from the expert panel of the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) to conduct clinical trials for a third booster dose of Covaxin on a few of its volunteers in April.
The study is expected to establish whether a third booster shot extends the immunity to Covid-19 over a longer period of time. It is also expected to enhance the immunity against new mutations of the vaccine that appear to be taking place.
US pharma giants Pfizer and Moderna have also announced that people who have received both doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna Covid-19 vaccines will probably need a booster shot this year and might need an annual shot thereafter.
However, health experts are of the view that more data is needed to establish if a third anti-COVID-19 booster dose will be more effective in fighting the surge of infections in the country.
Currently, people eligible for inoculation in the country are being administered either Serum Institute of India’s Covishield or Covaxin/ Russia’s Sputnik V is the third vaccine that has started being used on a small scale in Hyderabad but is expected to pick up as bulk imports arrive. Production of the vaccine is expected to start in August.
