Will Covishield gap be revised again? What government says

Reports claimed that the expert group is mulling revising the gap while NTAGI chief Dr NK Arora told ANI that as of now there is no proposal. The expert group is reviewing the effectiveness data as part of its regular process.

At present, the two doses of Serum Institute of India's Covishied are administered in a gap of 12 to 16 weeks, except in special cases. The decision was taken in May after going through international studies which revealed that the first dose of the Oxford vaccine remains effective for a long time. Hence, the second dose can be delayed, the expert panel said. Just after the gap was extended, new studies claimed that the protection offered by the first dose is not as much as previously thought. Following this, many countries shortened the gap between the two doses of the vaccine.

Two doses of Covishield are administered at a gap of 12 to 16 weeks at present in India. (Bloomberg)

The government earlier said that a decision on whether the gap of Covishield doses will be reduced will be taken by the expert committee based on the emerging evidence. Several reports on Thursday claimed that such a proposal to reduce the gap is being considered by the expert panel. However, NTAGI chief Dr NK Arora told ANI that there is no proposal as of now to change the dosing interval for Covishield, Covaxin or Sputnik, but the expert group is regularly reviewing the vaccine effectiveness data, he said.

Covishield dose gap and its revisions in India

When India started the vaccination drive, the recommended gap between the two doses of Covishield was four to six weeks.

Then the gap was extended to four to eight weeks and finally, it was recommended to administer Covishield doses apart 12 to 16 weeks.

The widening of the gap received flak earlier as it was linked to the shortage of vaccines, an allegation that the government has repeatedly denied.

The gap was also problematic for people who had scheduled travel and for them the government allowed a shorter gap.

As India's vaccination drive is going on in full swing, several reinfection cases have surfaced. People with both doses of vaccination getting Covid infection again is not uncommon in India. Whether it has anything to do with the gap in the dosing of the vaccine is not known. Leaving Covishield, Covaxin and Sputnik have a recommended gap of 28 days between the two doses.

(With agency reports)