Time to take pending booster shot, says NTAGI Chief ahead of festive season, warns against complacency​

People should come forward to take their pending precautionary shots against Covid-19 ahead of the festive season, NTAGI chief NK Arora told News18.com in an exclusive interview, urging the need to adopt "caution" for at least the next four months.

"After four months, maybe we will be in a position to go back to normalcy as much as possible," Arora said, adding that disciplined behaviour would also restrict the emergence of new strains.

Arora, head of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) an apex panel that takes critical decisions on the use and deployment of coronavirus vaccines in India told sources that "while the population hasn't shown much enthusiasm towards taking booster shots, the Centre's move to make doses available for free across public healthcare facilities has increased the demand".

He further explained that in July, when the government announced free boosters for all and made them available in all central government-run vaccination centres, more than 40,000 centres started administering the jab.