Booster Doses

Booster Doses

Subject: Science and Technology

Context: Researchers at Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore, will carry out the country’s first-ever clinical trials on a booster dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, with the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) giving its nod recently.

Concept:

• The fully vaccinated people by now clearly shows that immune responses last up to 8-12 months ,Hence a booster is a means of strengthening one’s immune system against a particular pathogen.
• The same original vaccine, in which case its goal is to increase the protection by producing more antibodies.
• The boosters given after six months of full immunisation can increase antibody level so high that they protect against all the variants

Need

• These boosters will be particularly helpful for the elderly and immunocompromised people.
• There are studies showing that a new variant can sneak past the antibodies created by a specific vaccine, the need of a tweaked booster shot arises then.