India on Friday approved Bharat Biotech’s intranasal Covid-19 vaccine for inclusion in the ongoing vaccination program as a booster shot, even as the country decided to step up its emergency response mechanism in case of a rise in infections.
Mock drills have been ordered across hospitals and they will begin Tuesday onwards, officials of the Union Health Ministry said.
The emergency response comes against the backdrop of rising Covid cases in China - the BF.7 variant of Omicron - and other parts like Japan, Korea, France, the USA and Brazil.
India is also planning to make mandatory negative Covid test reports for people coming in from countries with a heavy caseload. The guidelines could come in place over the next week or so, Union Health Minister, Mansukh Mandaviya reportedly said during an interview to a private TV channel.
This would be over and above the 2 per cent random testing that will be done in case of international passengers beginning December 24.
Intranasal Vax
According to a senior health ministry official, the inclusion of Bharat Biotech’s intranasal vaccine (iNCOVACC or BBV154) in the vaccination programme will be as a booster dose for those above 18 years of age. It will be included in the Cowin app Friday evening onwards.
The vaccine will also be available at private centres.
The needle-free vaccine received approval from the Drugs Controller General of India in November for restricted use in an emergency for those above 18 as a heterologous booster dose.
This will be India’s second such needleless jab.
Vaccines listed on the Cowin platform include Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, Serum Institute’s Covishield and Covovax, Russia’s Sputnik V and Biological E’s Corbevax.
Emergency Response
The mock drills would check the preparedness of the health system, bed availability and readiness of other healthcare support systems. Mandaviya will also oversee and participate in these drills.
States have been asked to carry out similar drills at government-run hospitals too.
PM Narendra Modi who chaired a high-level review meeting yesterday evening has already asked states and senior officials to check on the availability of key medicines / essential drugs and monitor their price movements, oxygen availability and so on.
Meanwhile, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya met health ministers of different states and asked them to ramp up surveillance infrastructure.
“We will take action as per the needs. Also, stressed on combating the pandemic with a pre-emptive and proactive approach by increasing testing and genome sequencing,” he tweeted.