After getting COVID-19 vaccine: Do we really need a booster dose?

KARACHI: As many as 80 per cent of medical professionals and health experts at a recent conference of health professionals in Islamabad said they had managed to get themselves inoculated with more than one vaccine against Covid-19 and its variants, amid a raging question by many if we really need a booster dose or a mix and match of vaccines to protect ourselves against the dreadfully infectious disease.

The question is being predominantly asked by most of the health professionals, especially frontline health workers and educated people who wish to get a ‘booster’ dose of an mRNA vaccine, either Pfizer’s Comirnaty or Moderna’s vaccine, believing that it would provide them the much-needed immunity against highly-transmissible Delta variant of Covid-19.

In their respective responses, the top health officials and experts in Pakistan believe at the moment that there is no reason for allowing people to get an additional dose of the same or other vaccines when only a fraction of the country’s population has been vaccinated and millions of adults are still awaiting for their first vaccination. Reiterating the theme, Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr. Faisal Sultan strongly opposed the ‘top-up’ doses to a small number of fully vaccinated individuals. He said at the moment, Covid-19 vaccines must only be used to inoculate the large segment of society which is still not vaccinated. Dr Sultan explained that “For the individual, there may be an 'undefined gain'. From a policymaker point of view, he said, boosters can only be allowed if whole or large population has been already vaccinated, "but for the public health decision maker, when only a fraction of the population is protected so far, the importance of an unvaccinated person becoming vaccinated is much higher”. Another leading health expert and principal investigator of clinical trials of different Covid-19 vaccines Prof. Javed Akram said so far, no concrete data is available to support additional immunity by a mix and match of different vaccines or boosters to a fully vaccinated person, adding that even the World Health Organization (WHO) is also opposing this idea.

“We know that immunity provided by different vaccines wanes over a period of time but so far we have no concrete data or study on the effectiveness of an additional dose of the vaccines. We are conducting trials on giving second dose of Cansino vaccine to those already inoculated with it but we have yet to see the results,” Prof. Javed Akram added.

He deplored that many people had managed to get themselves inoculated with more than one vaccines in the country against the advice of experts and added that they had launched a ‘polyvac study’ to ascertain their number and if it was providing any extra benefits to them.

Eminent infectious diseases expert at the Aga KUniversity Hospital (AKUH) Dr. Faisal Mehmood also confirmed that a lot of healthcare professionals, who were fully vaccinated were asking about the booster but added that he was advising them that their efficacy was still unknown. “There may be some individual benefits of a booster but in a country where majority is unvaccinated, it is highly unadvisable to call for booster shots for small segment of society. Even if a booster is to be given, it should be for elderly instead of healthcare professionals because they are more vulnerable,” he added.