The precautionary doses of COVID-19 vaccines are meant to lessen the severity of infection, hospitalization and death, said the Central government’s top medical research body in a press conference. 

The government stated that there was no need to panic because of the increasing number of COVID-19 cases, adding that the country is prepared for a surge. Dr Balram Bhargava, director general of ICMR, said that all COVID-19 vaccines are disease-modifying and do not prevent infection. He added, “the precautionary dose is primarily to mitigate the severity of infection, hospitalization, and death." 

The Union Health Ministry said that around 90% of the adults in India have received the first dose of a COVID vaccine. It stated that many people have had multiple exposures to the SARS-CoV2 antigen as some of the vaccinated people had previous symptomatic infections while some have had asymptomatic infections… (NDTV, December 30, 2021)