TN doctors reportedly taking Covid-19 vax booster doses in secret

Several doctors in Tamil Nadu are reportedly taking booster doses of coronavirus vaccine - yet unauthorised by the government - in secret, sources said.

Sources in the Health Department told IANS that many doctors are taking booster doses from private hospitals, while some of them are taking the boosters from government hospitals themselves using the vials that remain unused.

Talking to IANS, a senior doctor at a private Chennai hospital said: "Global studies in latest medical journals reveals that the antibody levels even after the second dose of vaccines are much less and hence, booster doses are necessary."

Some doctors also said that it was the doctor community who had taken the first dose of the vaccine and the duration of Covishield vaccines was "low".

However, state's Director of Public Health, Dr. T.S. Selvavinayagam, told IANS that the the Central government has approved only two doses of vaccine and "taking more doses will be a violation of the Government of India norms".

On the other hand, doctors say that they have co-morbidities and are waiting for government approval for long. 

"We have waited for long for the government approval to booster doses. This will lead to us curtailing our work as we have several co-morbidities and require a booster dose," a senior doctor, who is the former Head of the Department of Medicine at a leading state government medical college, told IANS. 

Many doctors are taking Covishield as a booster dose if they had taken Covaxin earlier and vice versa. Doctors said that mixing of two different vaccines has increased the antibody levels of the person and immunology studies conducted by the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) have also shown that mixed vaccines have a better effect.