Corbevax approved as precaution dose for adults vaccinated with Covaxin, Covishield

New Delhi, August 10

The government has approved Biological E’s Corbevax as a precaution dose for those above 18 years fully vaccinated with either Covishield or Covaxin, official sources said on Wednesday.

This is for the first time that a booster dose that is different from the one used for primary vaccination against covid has been allowed in the country.  

Sources told PTI that the Union Health Ministry’s approval is based on the recommendations made recently by the covid-19 Working Group of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI).

“Corbevax will be considered as a precaution dose after completion of six months or 26 weeks from the date of administration of the second dose of either Covaxin or Covishield vaccines for those aged above 18 years enabling use of Corbevax as a heterologous covid-19 vaccine for precaution dose administration in this age group,” sources said.

This will be in addition to the existing guidelines for homologous precaution dose administration of Covaxin and Covishield vaccine, sources added.

All necessary changes with regard to the administration of precaution dose of Corbevax vaccine are being made on the Co-WIN portal.

India’s first indigenously developed RBD protein subunit vaccine Corbevax is currently being used to inoculate children in the age group of 12 to 14 under the covid-19 immunisation programme.