By: Pooja Shrivastava
SERUM Institute of India (SII) Chairman Cyrus Poonawalla has revealed that he has taken a third Covid booster shot, along with thousands of other SII employees, amid many countries, including the UK, preparing to start offering booster doses.
Bating for the booster dose while speaking at a press conference after receiving India’s prestigious Lokmanya Tilak award last week, SII Chairman said since antibodies go down after six months, it is important to take the third dose.
“After six months, the antibodies go down and that is why I have taken the third dose. We have given the third dose to our seven to eight thousand SII employees,” he said.
The statement came at a time when many countries are preparing to offer Covid booster shots.
Israel has already been offering a booster shot to people over 60 since July and has recently started offering it to 40+ people too.
The U.S. government said on Wednesday (18) it plans to make Covid booster shots widely available starting on Sept. 20 as infections are rising in the country from the Delta variant, citing data indicating diminishing protection from the vaccines over time.
While earlier it was reported that a third dose will be offered to 50+ Britons in September, the latest update on the matter suggests that the UK government is considering limiting third doses only to the most vulnerable.
Britain had been planning for a Covid-19 vaccine booster programme, and health secretary Sajid Javid said he expected the programme to begin in early September, pending final advice from officials.
Oxford vaccine chief Andrew Pollard, however, has claimed that booster shots for Covid-19 vaccines are not currently needed by Britain and the doses should be given to other countries. He also added that decisions on whether to give boosters “should be scientifically driven”.
Earlier this month, the World Health Organisation (WHO) also raised an objection to countries considering Covid booster shots, calling for a halt on the third jabs of the Covid vaccine until at least the end of September.
