Covid-19: AIIMS chief Randeep Guleria says booster shots required for emerging variants

At a time when there are serious concerns about the various mutations of the Covid-19, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) chief Dr Randeep Guleria said that boosters shots of vaccines might be required to cover various emerging variants. “It seems that we probably need the booster dose of coronavirus vaccines as with the passage of time the immunity tends to fall. There is waning immunity. We would like to have a booster dose that will cover for various emerging variants,” he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Dr Guleria went on to say that the booster dose will be a second-generation vaccine and would have better immunity. “The second-generation vaccine would cover all the new variants and will have better efficacy. Trials of these booster shots are already underway. The need for these shots will arise by the end of this year. But it’s only when the entire population is vaccinated. The next step would be to give a booster shot,” he said.

The AIIMS chief said that the trials of Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin on children are in the final phase and results are most likely to be out by September.

Trials of the vaccine for children are conducted in three phases. Children are segregated into three groups according to their age and then the trial is carried. The first trial was conducted on the children of the age group of 12-18 years followed by the age group of 6-12 years and 2-6 years. Trial on the age group of 2-6 years is underway.

He also said that Zydus Cadila has already released data on the Covid-19 vaccine for children. “Zydus Cadila vaccine has also included children and their data is already there. They have already applied for the emergency use authorization,” the doctor said. Zydus has completed the trial on the age group of 12 to 18 years. He said that vaccines for children will be available by September.