There may be more trouble brewing for the BJP-led central government as per a report the three members of the advisory body claimed that the gap between the two doses of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine was doubled without the agreement of the scientific group.
The decision regarding the increase in the gap from 6-8 weeks to 12-16 weeks was announced by the Health Ministry on May 13 when vaccines were falling short of demand and cases across the country were on a spike.
At that time the extended gap was said to be recommended by the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI), based on real-life evidence mainly from Britain.
However, the NTAGI scientists, classified by the government as three of the 14 "core members", revealed that the body did not have sufficient data to offer such a recommendation, according to the news agency Reuters.
The news agency quoted M.D. Gupte, a former director of the state-run National Institute of Epidemiology, saying the NTAGI had supported increasing the gap of dosage to 8-12 weeks but clarified that the group had no data concerning the effects of a gap beyond 12 weeks.
"Eight to 12 weeks is something we all accepted, 12 to 16 weeks is something the government has come out with," Gupte told the news agency. "This may be alright, may not be. We have no information on that," he added.
Similar views were shared by his NTAGI colleague Mathew Varghese, who said the group's recommendation was only for 8-12 weeks.
What Is The Controversy Over Dosage?
At the time of the announcement, the health ministry cited the head of NTAGI's working group on Covid-19 that the gap was based on scientific evidence. "There were no dissenting voices among the NTAGI members," the ministry also tweeted.
On May 13, the ministry’s statement said it has accepted the 12-16 weeks recommendation from NTAGI's Covid working group, which is mainly comprised of government officials tasked with vaccine administration, known as NEGVAC.
Health officials later stressed during a press conference on May 15 that the gap was not as a result of vaccine shortage but based on a "scientific decision".
Even J.P. Muliyil, a member of the seven-strong Covid working group, also opened up about the dosage and said discussions were on within the NTAGI on increasing the vaccine dosage interval but the body did not recommend 12-16 weeks gaps.
"That specific number was not quoted," he told Reuters. Muliyil said this increased confidence within the advisory body that delaying a second shot would not be harmful.
While N.K. Arora, the COVID working group head, didn’t comment on this issue but said all its decisions were taken collectively by the NTAGI at large. A NEGVAC representative said it "respects the decisions of the NTAGI and uses them for our work".
If you go by the real-world data released in May by South Korea, one dose of the vaccines from AstraZeneca and Pfizer was 86.6 percent effective in preventing infections among people aged 60 and older.
The AstraZeneca vaccine accounts for nearly 90 percent of the 257.5 million vaccine doses administered in India.