BMJ British Medical Journal
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Prioritising health to save lives
BMJ 2022; 376 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.o6 (Published 06 January 2022)
Cite this as: BMJ 2022;376:o6
Rapid response
Re: Prioritising health to save lives
Dear Editor
COVID-19 Vaccination in India
In the fight against COVID-19, India has crossed a historic 150 COVID-19 vaccination mark today (07.01.2022) with the leadership of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In the COVID-19 vaccination program for children aged 15 to 18 years of age, within five days (03.01.2022 to 07.01.2023) of its initiation, about 1.5 crore children were vaccinated against COVID-19 in India.
As of today 07.01.2022, over 90% of the Indian adult population has already received the first dose of vaccine against COVID-19.
"It is a huge number in terms of statistics. It is not lesser than a surprise for most of the big countries of the world. But it is a symbol of the capability of the 130 crore citizens of India. It is a symbol of self- confidence and self-reliance," our Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today.
The Government of India has also decided that a precautionary dose of vaccine will be started for healthcare and frontline workers starting January 10, 2022. Citizens above 60 years facing co-morbidities will have the option of taking a precautionary dose on the advice of their doctor.
Senior citizens will have to show a medical certificate that shows they have specified co-morbidities to be eligible for a precautionary dose. They will have to get a certificate from a registered medical practitioner that can be scanned and uploaded on the CoWIN portal or produced at a vaccination centre.
The gap between the second dose of COVID-19 vaccine and the third, which is being called a "precaution dose", is likely to be 9 to 12 months.
Official data show there are at least 137.5 million people above the age of 60 years who could be eligible for the precaution dose.
One could give an additional dose of the same vaccine but the results aren't as good as when the jabs are mixed.
With the emergence of the highly contagious Omicron variant of coronavirus, many fully vaccinated people are at risk of getting infected again.
A booster is given to people with weak immunity, especially the elderly, and those with low antibody levels. The idea is to increase the level of protection by increasing the antibodies by taking the exact same amount of another shot of the Covid vaccine.
Competing interests: No competing interests
07 January 2022
M.A. Aleem
Emeritus Professor of Neurology * Visiting Specialist in Neurology ** Consultant Neurologist ***
The Tamilnadu Dr.M.G.R. Medical University * Dhanalakshami Srinivasan Medical College ** ABC Hospital ***
Chennai 600032* Perambalure 621212** Trichy 620018*** Tamilnadu India
@drmaaleem
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