Subject Expert Committee to meet on Dec 10 to discuss approval for Covishield booster dose

NEW DELHI: The Subject Expert Committee (SEC) under the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) will hold the first meeting on Friday regarding the Covid-19

booster

dose, said sources on Thursday.

Recently, the Serum Institute of India (SII) has filed an application with the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) regarding approval for a booster dose of Covishield.

The Serum Institute cites that there is adequate stock of the Covid

vaccine

in the country now and a demand for a booster shot is there due to the emergence of new coronavirus variants.

The Serum Institute is the first vaccine manufacturing company in India to apply for approval for Covishield as a booster dose.

The SEC meeting in this regard will start at 12 pm on Friday.

Many experts have also recommended booster doses in India especially after the emergence of new highly transmissible Covid-19 variant Omicron. But the government has not taken any decision so far.

However, recently National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation in India (NTAGI) also conducted a virtual meeting regarding the additional dose of Covid-19 vaccines in India, but no consensus was reached on the issue.

Meanwhile, SII started shipping the Covishield vaccine from January this year and has crossed the one billion dose landmark in the last week of November. In total country has administered 114.78 crore Covishield vaccines till date.

The Union health ministry said India's cumulative vaccination coverage crossed 131 crore landmark milestone on Thursday. More than 67 lakh vaccine doses were administered till 7 pm today.