India considers widening COVID booster effort to all adults, sources say (updated)

Astrazeneca Pharma India

21/03/2022 11:37

(Adds Serum Institute's views on vaccine demand)
    By Krishna N. Das
    NEW DELHI, March 21 (Reuters) - India is considering making
all adults eligible for booster doses of COVID-19 vaccine, two
sources with knowledge of the matter said on Monday, as
infections grow in some countries and some Indians find it hard
to travel abroad without a third dose.
    Only frontline workers and those older than 60 are currently
allowed to take booster doses in India, whether free in
government centres or paid for in private hospitals.
    The government is debating whether to provide boosters to
other groups for free, said one of the sources, who both sought
anonymity as the government has yet to make a decision.
    A health ministry spokesperson did not respond to a request
for comment.
    The Serum Institute of India (SII), whose Covishield vaccine
dominates India's immunisation programme, said on Monday it
stopped the shot's production in December but still had a stock
of 200 million doses. It has produced 1.9 billion doses in
total.
    Its CEO Adar Poonawalla told CNBC-TV18 that they would
restart production of the vaccine, a version of the AstraZeneca
 ASTR.NS  shot, if demand returned through boosters or any other
way.
    India's health ministry, meanwhile, has urged states to
boost COVID-19 surveillance measures, citing a resurgence in
some parts of Asia and Europe. China and Italy have seen a
recent rise in cases.
    Infections in India, however, have fallen to their lowest in
more than a year, with 1,549 new cases reported in the past 24
hours and 31 deaths. India's total infections now stand at more
than 43 million, with 516,510 deaths.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2NX091
    The country of about 1.4 billion people has administered
1.81 billion vaccine doses, more than 20 million as boosters.
    On Twitter some Indians have said organisers of some events
overseas have limited attendance to those who have taken booster
doses. Countries such as Israel, for example, do not consider
vaccination complete in the absence of booster doses.

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COVID-19 Vaccine rollout:    https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps/vaccination-rollout-and-access/
FACTBOX-Latest on global spread of coronavirus     
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FACTBOX-Worldwide coronavirus deaths exceed 6.4 mln    
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 (Reporting by Krishna N. Das; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and
Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
 ((Krishna.Das@tr.com; https://twitter.com/krishnadas56 ;))