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Second dose of Covishield to be given 4-8 weeks after first: Govt revises dosage guidelines

22-03-2021

The Centre on Monday revised the guidelines for the appropriate dosage of the Serum Institute's Covishield vaccine as per the recommendations of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization and the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19. According to the new guidelines, the second dose of the Covishield vaccine should be given four-eight weeks after the first dose instead of the earlier practiced interval of 4-6 weeks. "In view of emerging scientific evidence, the interval between two doses of a specific COVID-19 vaccine i.e. COVISHIELD has been revisited by National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization & subsequently by National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19," the government said. "Recommendation has been revised to provide the second dose of COVISHIELD at 4-8 weeks’ interval after the first dose, instead of the earlier practiced interval of 4-6 weeks. This decision of revised time interval between the two doses is applicable only to COVISHIELD and not to COVAXIN vaccine," it added. The revised guidelines come amid a raging debate on the safety of the Oxford University- AstraZeneca vaccine following which several nations, especially in Europe, halted vaccine jabs. On Thursday, however, leading EU countries said they would resume AstraZeneca vaccinations after the European medical regulator said the jab is "safe and effective" and denied its links with a higher blood clot risk. Earlier, AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria had also said that no red flags related to increased clotting due to the AstraZeneca vaccine have been seen so far. "We have not seen any red flags of increased clotting due to the AstraZeneca vaccine," Dr Guleria said, in sync with the World Health Organization (WHO) stance that the vaccine is safe.