Adar Poonawalla shares hilarious 'Home Alone' clip in support of COVID booster jabs; Watch

As worldwide concerns on the newly discovered COVID-19 variant, Omicron, continue to grow, Serum Institute of India CEO and co-owner Adar Poonawalla shared a hilarious clip from the 1990 hit, Home Alone, to emphasise the need for a coronavirus booster vaccine.  

The plot for the 1990 comedy, Home Alone, revolved around an 8-year-old kid, Kevin McCallister (played by Macaulay Culkin) who is accidentally left home as his parents leave for a vacation. Kevin, with his wit, then lays a set of traps to fend off two crooks who attempt to rob the McCallister residence.      

Taking to his Twitter handle, Poonawalla shared a famous clip from the John Hughes classic featuring Kevin celebrating as his traps attack the burglars as they desperately attempt to enter the McCallister residence. The eight-year-old kid is dubbed the booster dose and the two crooks, the Omicron and Delta variants of COVID-19. The  'booster dose' succeeds in keeping the two burglars- the 'Delta' and the 'Omicron'- away. 

Meanwhile, the Union government informed Parliament that the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) and the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 are deliberating and considering scientific evidence for the need and justification for a booster vaccine dose against the coronavirus.

Clinical trial data sought from SII for approval of booster Covishield dose

An expert panel of India's central drug authority which reviewed Serum Institute's application for the approval of Covishield as a booster vaccine against COVID-19 on Friday recommended that the firm submit local clinical trial data and proposal along with justification for the booster doses approval, official sources said.

On December 1, Prakash Kumar Singh, Director, Government and Regulatory affairs at Serum Institute of India (SII), had sought approval from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for Covishield as a booster dose, citing adequate stock of the vaccine in the country and a demand for a booster shot due to the emergence of new coronavirus variants.

Singh had referred to the UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency giving a go-ahead to the booster doses of AstraZeneca ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine in the application.

"The subject expert committee (SEC) on COVID-19 at CDSCO reviewed SII's application and following detailed deliberation recommended that the Pune-based firm should submit local clinical trial data and proposal along with the justification for booster dose approval," a source said.

Singh is learnt to have said in the application that as the world continued to face the pandemic situation, many countries had started administering a booster dose of COVID-19 vaccines.

"You are aware that now there is no shortage of Covishield in our country and the demand for a booster dose is increasing day by day from the people who have already taken two doses in view of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and emergence of new strains," he had said in the application.

(With inputs from PTI)