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To increase its effectiveness, the Centre has told States and Union Territories to increase the interval between two doses of the Covishield, the mainstay Covid-19 vaccine in the country up to eight weeks. Currently, the interval between two shots is 28 days.
The decision taken based on the recommendations of experts will also help the States and Union Territories increase the vaccination coverage.
In February, a team of researchers in the UK that analysed the trial data of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, which is produced in India as Covishield by the Pune-based Serum Institute of India, confirmed that the British government’s decision on a 12-week spacing between doses has scientific validity. The study, which was published in the journal Lancet last month, also revealed that a single dose of the vaccine remains effective for 12 weeks.
In India, the decision was based on the recommendations given by the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) as well as by the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for Covid-19. This spacing is for Covishield, not for Covaxin, an official statement said.
In a letter to Chief Secretaries of the States and Union Territories, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said that scientific evidence is that the protection gets enhanced if the second dose of Covishield is administered between six and eight weeks, but not later than eight weeks. Bhushan’s letter asked the States and UTs to instruct the officials concerned to widely disseminate the message of revised dosing interval among programme managers, vaccinators and recipients to ensure adherence to the new protocol.
Lockdown anniversary
The need to step up the vaccination was brought alive keenly with a steep increase in Covid-19 cases on the eve of the anniversary of the nationwide lockdown. In in the 24 hours till Monday morning, 46,951 cases were reported, the highest since November 6. These fresh took the total active Covid-19 caseload in the country to 3,34,646. At 212, the number of daily deaths was also the highest since January 8 this year.
On Sunday, States and Union Territories carried out 4,62,157 vaccinations, helping to take the total number of inoculation in the country beyond 4.5 crore. With this, the number of beneficiaries who have received first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine crossed 3.75 crore, while close to 75 lakh people have been administered both the shots.
Rising cases
The number of daily cases in Maharashtra crossed 30,000 to touch 30,535, while in Punjab it went up to 2,644. Six other States reported more than 1,000 cases on Sunday — Kerala (1,875), Karnataka (1,715), Gujarat (1,580), Madhya Pradesh (1,322), Tamil Nadu (1,289) and Chhattisgarh (1,000).
Though short of this mark, Delhi and Haryana, too, are reporting significant increase in daily cases. Uttarakhand, which is readying for the Haridwar Kumbh Mela, also has been recording a steady increase in cases.
States and Union Territories across the country carried out a total of around 19.66 lakh vaccinations till 7 pm on Monday, taking cumulative number of vaccinations to around 4.72 crore since January 16.
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