The Gap Between Covishield Vaccine to increase: Centre

New Delhi, 22/3: The Central Government on Monday asked the state governments and Union territories to increase the interval between the two doses of the Covishield vaccine and make it 6-8 weeks based on the recommendation of two expert panels.

According to the new recommendations, the immunity is enhanced if the second dose of Covishield is administered after 6-8 weeks instead of the current 28 days’ gap.

In view of the emerging scientific evidence, the interval between two doses of Covid-19 vaccine Covishield has been revisited by the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI) and subsequently by the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 (NEGVAC) in its 20th meeting.

The expert panels have recommended administering the second dose of the Covishield vaccine at 4-8 weeks’ interval after the first dose, instead of the earlier practiced interval of 4-6 weeks.

This decision of revised interval between the two doses is applicable only to Covishield and not to Covaxin, officials of the health ministry have clarified.