12-16 Week Gap Between Covishield Doses, Covid Recovered Patients Should Defer Jab For 6 months, Says Govt Panel

The panel also suggested 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.

Representational Picture (AFP)

New Delhi: In a latest update on the vaccination front, the gap between two doses of the Covishield Covid-19 vaccine can be increased to 12-16 weeks, as per the government panel suggestions.

However, the panel didn’t suggest any changes in dosage interval for Covaxin, the other vaccines approved in use in India at this time. The gap in case of Covaxin remains four to six weeks.

 What are the recommendations?

The National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) on Thursday recommended increasing the gap between two doses of Covishield vaccine to 12-16 weeks, as per the news agency PTI sources. Currently, the interval between two doses of Covishield remains four to eight weeks.

The panel also suggested 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.

Also, the panel has advised that those with laboratory test proven SARS-CoV-2 illness should defer COVID-19 vaccination for six months after recovery.

The recommendations of the NTAGI will be sent to the National Expert Group on Vaccine Adminstration for Covid-19.  It is to be noted that this will be the second time in three months that dosage of Covishield have been widened. Earlier, in March states and UTs were told to increase the gap from 28 days to six-eight weeks citing "better results".

The latest suggestions have caught the attention of Opposition, and Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, who raised concerns regarding the ever-widening interval between doses. "First, it was four weeks for the 2nd dose, then six-eight weeks and now we are told 12-16 weeks. Is this because there are not enough stocks of the vaccines for all who are eligible or because professional scientific advice says so?" Mr Ramesh asked.

"Can we expect some transparency from the Modi government?" he added. The increasing of Covishield dosage intervals has been linked to increased efficacy of the vaccine. In February, the international medical journal The Lancet published a study claiming a 26.2 per cent increase - from 55.1 per cent to 81.3 per cent - if doses were spaced 12 weeks apart.

The recommended suggestions have come at a time when the country is facing acute shortage of doses as the manufacturer - Serum Institute of India (SII)- is trying to keep up with demand. Meanwhile, SII had informed the centre that Covishield production will be increased to 10 crore doses - but only from August - and that June-July production "may also increase by some quantity".