QATAR, EU SAY PUSHING IRAN NUCLEAR TALKS
TEHRAN: Qatar’s emir and the European Union (EU) on Thursday said they are working to push forward stalled negotiations aimed at reviving a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and major world powers.
Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-thani met Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi in Tehran as an EU envoy held a second day of meetings with Iran’s chief negotiator Ali Bagheri in the Iranian capital.
The meetings come as talks between world powers and Iran on restoring the landmark deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), have been on a pause since mid-march. The JCPOA was torpedoed in 2018 by then US president Donald Trump’s unilateral decision to withdraw from the deal and impose a punishing sanctions regime. take the precaution dose as required by the guidelines of the destination country. This new facility will be available soon on the CO-WIN portal,” tweeted Mandaviya.
The decision comes at a time when the uptake for the booster dose — all adults are eligible for it nine months after their second dose — has been slow, and there are fears that doses may be wasted.
“No list of countries is shortlisted (by the government); it will be available for all the countries, even if not required by a particular country,” said a senior official in the central government aware of the matter, on condition of anonymity, adding that the mandatory gap will now be of only three months.
“No proofs [of travel] are required to book a slot on CO-WIN or at the Covid vaccination centres,” added the official.
Several countries require people to have taken booster doses before they can arrive from abroad. Most of the Euro
BOOSTER DOSE
pean Union region sets the cutoff at nine months: that is, people must have taken a Covid-19 vaccine in the last 270 days to be allowed to arrive. In Israel, people will need to be boosted if their last shot was more than 180 days ago.
Several groups made a representation to the government to allow people to meet these requirements.
The idea was one of several discussed by the government’s expert panel that looks at several issues related to booster doses, the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI).
Since April 10, when all those 18 and above became eligible to take a “precaution dose” if their primary vaccination course was completed more than nine months earlier, the pace of vaccination has been slow.
At least 117.9 million adults are eligible at present for the third doses, but only 30.4 million have taken it, according to data available on the CO-WIN dashboard.
People aware of the matter said the slow uptake was also leading to wasted doses. Each vial contains multiple doses — Covishield contains 10, Covaxin 20 — and these need to be used up in six hours once they are opened. In other words, if a centre administering Covaxin has only 12 people turning up on a day, eight doses go to waste.
Experts said precaution doses are also crucial in strengthening the immune system’s ability to combat variants of the coronavirus. “With Omicron we have seen how it managed to evade the immune response, which is why administering a booster dose becomes especially important for those at high-risk such as elderly people, and those with compromised immunity,” said Dr Gagandeep Kang, senior vaccine expert, and faculty, Christian Medical College, Vellore (Tamil Nadu).
The current rule on type of doses will continue. People will be eligible for the same dose of a vaccine as the first two for their booster.