Govt Recommends To Increase Gap of Covishield Doses to 12-16 Weeks

A government panel on Thursday recommended to increase the gap between two doses of Covishield to 12-16 weeks which is currently four to eight weeks of interval.

No change in dosage interval for Covaxin was suggested by the panel.

Those who have tested positive for Covid-19 and are waiting to take the vaccine should defer vaccination for six months after recovery, the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) recommended, reported India Today.

The government panel said those having laboratory test-proven SARS-CoV-2 illness should defer Covid-19 vaccination for six months after recovery.

However, the panel recommended that pregnant women may be offered the choice to take any Covid-19 vaccine and that lactating women can be inoculated any time after delivery.

As per sources, the panel said that pregnant women may be offered a choice to take any Covid-19 vaccine and added that lactating women are eligible for jabs any time after delivery.

The recommendations of the NTAGI will be sent to the National Expert Group on Vaccine Adminstration for Covid-19.

The Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech's indigenously developed Covaxin and Oxford-AstraZeneca's Covishield are currently being used in India's inoculation drive against coronavirus.

Earlier in March, the Centre had written to states and Union Territories to increase the gap between two doses of Covishield from 4-6 weeks to 4-8 weeks.

A three-month interval between doses of the Oxford Covid-19 vaccine results in higher vaccine efficacy than a six-week gap, according to a new study which says the first dose can offer up to 76 percent protection in the months between the two jabs, a study in Lancet said.

The results of the analysis from a Phase 3 randomized controlled trial, published in The Lancet journal, suggested that the interval between doses can be safely extended to three months given the protection a single dose offers.

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