New Delhi: The gap between the first and second doses of the Covishield COVID-19 vaccine will be increased to 12-16 weeks – from the existing six-eight weeks – the centre said Thursday.
Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union health Minister took to Twitter to inform the same. He wrote “Gap between 2 doses of #CovishieldVaccine has been increased to 12-16 weeks from 6-8 weeks currently. Decision has been taken based on recommendations given by COVID working group after analysing emerging evidence.”
This came after a panel on Wednesday recommended a gap of 12-16 weeks between two doses of Serum Institute’s Covishield vaccine. Currently, the interval between two doses of Covishield is four to eight weeks. However, no change in dosage interval for Covaxin was suggested by the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI).
This is the second time in three months Covishield dosage intervals have been widened; in March states and UTs were told to increase the gap from 28 days to six-eight weeks “for better results”.
The panel of experts further noted that for those infected with COVID-19, vaccination should be administered after six months and people who have received plasma during their treatment should get vaccinated at least after 12 weeks, a senior Health Ministry official said on Thursday.
The Government panel further stated that pregnant women are offered the choice to take any Covid-19 vaccine and lactating women can be inoculated any time after delivery. Noting the varied notices issued in the past in regards to the widening of the vaccine window, several opinions have come up amongst the crowd.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh flagged the ever-widening recommended interval between doses and slammed the government saying,” First, it was four weeks for the second dose, then six-eight weeks and now we are told 12-16 weeks. Is this because there are not enough stocks of vaccines… or because professional scientific advice says so?”