According to Aadhaar data, 95 crore people in the country are above 18 years of age. Out of these, 77 crore people have got the first dose, while there are about 41 crore people who have got the second dose. That is, there are 18 crore people who have not even got the first dose yet. In such a situation, it is the priority of the government to vaccinate them. There is no concrete basis yet for taking a decision on booster dose for corona.
180 million adults in India have not yet received the first dose. On the other hand, corona infection is also decreasing continuously, so experts do not think that the booster dose is technically necessary right now.
In the recent serosurvey in India, it has come out that 70% of children have antibodies. That is, they have been infected once. So they are not at risk for a few months now. Therefore vaccination of children can be avoided. However, the Zycov-D vaccine has been approved for children.
The booster dose is also being postponed for the time being because the weekly rate of infection (test positivity rate) in the country is 0.93%. It has remained below 2% for 2 months. According to the WHO, the epidemic is considered under control if the infection rate is below 5%. Experts believe that if all adults get vaccinated, then deaths will decline because more than 80% of deaths from corona are occurring in those above 45 years of age.
There are two types of people in focus right now. First – those 18 crores who have not got a single dose yet. They will take 36 crore doses. Second – those 36 crores who have got only one dose. That is, adults will now take a total of 72 crore doses. Right now, not more than 25 crore doses are being administered every month. In such a situation, it may take 3 months to cover these people.
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot held a review meeting with the party members on the situation and prevention of Corona. However, he decided to examine the possibilities of applying a booster dose of the corona vaccine and sent a letter to the Prime Minister. But the centre rejected the suggestion for the same.