India to start Covid-19 mix-and-match booster vaccines on Friday

Agencies | New Delhi                                                              

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

India said on Wednesday that Biological E's Covid-19 vaccine Corbevax can be administered as a booster dose in people who have taken the country's other two main shots — Covaxin and AstraZeneca's Covishield — from Friday onwards.

Corbevax will be available to those over 18, as a precautionary booster six months after a second dose, the Health Ministry said, in an August 8 letter to state authorities and to reporters on Wednesday.

Covishield is produced for the Indian market by the Serum Institute of India, under licence from AstraZeneca, while Bharat Biotech makes Covaxin.

India has so far administered more than 2 billion Covid-19 vaccine shots, including 113 million boosters, all of which have so far been of the same vaccine as the recipient's first two doses. The government says about 89 per cent of Indians above the age of 12 have had two doses.

With a population of nearly 1.4 billion people, the country has documented more than 44 million Covid-19 infections and 526,826 related deaths. The actual numbers are believed to be many times higher.