Govt Panel Justifies Decision Of Increasing Gap Between Two Shots Of Covishield, Says, 'Decision Not Due To Vaccine Shortage'

The National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization, has denied that few states couldn't provide vaccine for the age group of 18-44 due to vaccine shortage

New Delhi: On Thursday, the government increased the gap between two shots of Covidshield to 12-16 weeks from six to eight weeks. A panel member claims that this change is based on science and not vaccine shortage. In response to the flak government is facing for this decision, the chairman of the Covid working group, Dr. NK Arora said that the Centre has launched a study to compare the benefits.

Dr Arora, who is also a member of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization, has denied that few states couldn't provide vaccines for the age group of 18-44 due to vaccine shortage, NDTV reported.

“If I increase the gap by one month, then what difference will it make? It will make a difference of about four to six crore doses. So giving the second dose after a month is hardly going to address vaccine shortage. Increasing the gap is beneficial," Dr Arora added.

According to statistics, if the second jab of Covishield is taken with a gap of three months, the chances of protection from infection is 65-88 per cent, he further emphasised.

He had addressed the concerns of people who took jabs within one or two months by saying, “those who have taken the shots within a one or two-month gap do not need to worry and the production of antibodies will be good."

“How much protection will increasing the gap give? How much will it protect from the severity of infection or death? Such questions can be answered in the next four weeks based on the data of this study will start coming and will be released in regular bulletins," he disclosed.

The data has revealed a 0.02-0.04 per cent chance of reinfection after both doses, and the chances of a severe infection or death were “very rare", he added.

According to him, around 95 per cent of adverse effects after full vaccination were mild and only a fraction was severe. “But our data has shortcomings. Most adverse impact cases are reported only in the first three-four days. We have asked for data on problems experienced even after 28 days."

Taking cognizance of cases of death in patients who had administered both the dosages, Dr Arora told NDTV these were still being examined and they have to see whether those are from Covid or from the vaccine.

“We don’t know much about Covaxin yet but from international reports, we know that there can be problems four to 20 days after a Covishield shot. There could be clotting or bleeding. We haven’t seen this problem here so much, only about 0.61 per cent. About six persons in a crore can experience clotting or bleeding. That is far less than European numbers," he added, asserting that the vaccines were completely safe.