NEW DELHI: Increasing the gap between the first and second doses of Covishield vaccines to 12-16 weeks from the earlier 6-8 weeks, is a reasonable approach and is unlikely to have a negative impact on the efficacy of the jabs, say doctors on Friday.
The Covid Working Group chaired by Dr N.K. Arora, on Thursday, recommended extension of the gap between two doses of Covishield vaccine to 12-16 weeks. The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has also accepted this recommendation.
"It's unlikely to have a negative impact on the vaccine efficacy. As the immune memory developed by the first dose of vaccine would likely remain for a prolonged duration," Dr. Dipu T S, Associate Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Amrita Hospital, Kochi, said
The Serum Institute of India-manufactured vaccine, developed by Astra-Zeneca and the University of Oxford, was initially to be administered 4-6 weeks apart.
However, in April this year, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, working on the recommendations of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation and the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for Covid revised the interval to 6-8 weeks.
Both recommendations that warranted revision of the dosing interval were based on clinical trials conducted by AstraZeneca and Oxford University across the UK, Brazil and South Africa involving 17,178 participants.
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