NTAGI recommends reducing gap between second & precaution dose of Covid-19 vaccine: Sources

Government advisory panel Standing Technical Sub Committee (STSC) of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI) has recommended reducing the time period between the second dose and precaution dose of the vaccine against the Coronavirus infection, from nine months to six months, for every individual above the age of 18 years, sources said on Thursday.

According to the sources, the NTAGI is likely to take the final call on the matter on June 29.

Earlier, the Indian government had reduced the time gap of 'precaution dose' for foreign travellers to a minimum of 90 days after the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

As per the sources, today's meeting of the - Standing Technical Sub Committee (STSC) of the NTAGI did not involve the discussion regarding the vaccination of the children between the age group 6 to 12 years.

There is a mix of views among the experts for reducing the gap between booster doses in India as less number of people have shown interest in getting a third dose as a precautionary dose, despite it being allowed by the Centre for everyone above the age of 18.

The decision came amid the regular increase in the positive cases of Covid-19 infection. After a gap of more than three months, India witnessed an uptick in the number of COVID-19 cases as the country recorded as many as 12,213 fresh COVID-19 infections in the last 24 hours. On February 26 this year, India recorded 11,499 COVID-19 cases. On Wednesday, India had already reported 8,641 fresh cases of the virus.

India's active caseload currently stands at 58,215. Active cases now constitute 0.13 per cent of the country's total positive cases.

Consequently, India's recovery rate stands at 98.65 per cent. As many as 7,624 patients have recovered in the last 24 hours and the cumulative tally of recovered patients (since the beginning of the pandemic) is now at 4,26,74,712.

12,213 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours. The last 24 hours saw a total of 5,19,419 COVID-19 tests being conducted. India has so far conducted over 85.63 crore (85,63,90,449) cumulative tests.

The weekly positivity rate in the country currently stands at 2.38 per cent and the daily positivity rate is reported to be 2.35 per cent.

India's COVID-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 195.67 Cr (1,95,67,37,014) as per provisional reports till 7 am today. This has been achieved through 2,51,69,966 sessions.

COVID-19 vaccination for the age group 12-14 years was started on 16 March 2022. So far, more than 3.54 Cr (3,54,38,168) adolescents have been administered with the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Similarly, the COVID-19 precaution dose administration for the age group 18-59 years also started from 10th April 2022 onwards.

( With inputs from ANI )