Covovax better booster for Covishield-vaccinated people: Shahid Jameel

Of the vaccines against COVID-19 approved in India, Covovax would be a better booster for those who were administered Covishield jabs than another dose of the same vaccine, according to the data available currently, noted virologist Dr Shahid Jameel said.

Dr Jameel, the former head of the advisery group to the Indian SARS-COV-2 Genomics Consortia (INSACOG), said there is no data for the other combinations of vaccines as of now.

“Data available at this time suggests that of the vaccines approved in India, Covovax would be a better booster in Covishield-vaccinated people than another dose of Covishield,” he told PTI.

Officials have, however, said the “precaution dose” will be a third dose of the same vaccine that a person has taken.

Covovax has been developed by the US-based vaccine maker Novavax Inc., which announced a licensing agreement with the Serum Institute of India (SII) for the development and commercialisation of NVX-CoV2373, its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, in low and middle-income countries and in India.

The central drug authority, CDSCO, approved Covovax on 27th December.

Edits by EP News Bureau