With the Omicron variant of Covid-19 spreading across the country, there is a need for a booster shot or an additional jab. The National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) will be meeting on Monday (today) to deliberate upon issues of child immunisation and administering additional doses of Covid-19 vaccine to the immunocompromised.
The expert panel is also expect to come up with a comprehensive policy for both the additional Covid-19 vaccine dose and child immunisation, as inform by the chairman of India’s Covid-19 task force, NK Arora.
NK Arora Said :
“The policy will deal with who will require the vaccine, when and how. This needs to be seen in the context that a new variant is coming and with time, we will get more information about it. Therefore, the relevance and effectiveness of the current vaccines will also become apparent with time only,”.
What is an Additional Dose of a Covid-19 Vaccine?
An additional dose, called a third dose, is given to people with moderately or severely compromise immune systems to improve their response to the initial vaccine series.
This term “third dose” was use to refer to additional doses for the two mRNA vaccines, but now the term is “additional dose” because those who receive a Johnson & Johnson “one dose” vaccine may also be eligible for a dose based on their immune systems.
People with weak immune systems might not develop enough immunity after vaccination with two doses of a vaccine.
An additional dose might improve their protection against the novel coronavirus.
What is a Booster Shot?
A booster shot is a means of strengthening one’s immune system against a particular pathogen.
It may be exactly the same original vaccine, in which case its goal is to increase the magnitude of protection by producing more antibodies.
The booster shot is an additional dose after the protection provide by the original shot(s) has start to decrease over time.
You would get a booster after the immunity from the initial dose(s) naturally starts to wane.
The booster dose is design to help people maintain their level of immunity for longer.
What a booster shot does is that it gives the memory cells the crucial signal to re-engage when the virus attacks.
Difference between the Both?
A Covid-19 booster is given when a person has complete their vaccine series, and protection against the virus has decrease over time.
Depending on the original series you had, some details will vary.
An additional dose is administer to people with moderately to severely compromise immune systems.
This additional dose is intend to improve immunocompromised people’s response to their initial vaccine series.
Experts say that offering such beneficiaries a third dose could help them match up an immune response similar to generalized, healthy populations.
Third Covid-19 doses are thus offer to those with immune vulnerabilities, which could possibly include cancer patients (those in remission or undergoing chemotherapy), or those who have receive an organ transplant.
These can only be offer on a case-by-case basis, and may not exactly be subject to public rollout.
Differences in Both Dosage?
While the additional Covid dose would be a “full” dose of the vaccine, booster shots being offer right now have a lesser volume, since the third dose is only suppose to increase the efficacy range.
Experts have also suggest that there could be some differences in the side-effects one could expect.
With booster shots, we have come to know about a higher intensity or symptoms similar to what one may go through with the second dose.
It’s yet unknown how severe, or safe a third dose could be.
WARNING : This article is for knowledge base.
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