NTAGI recommends reducing gap of second dose of Covishield vaccine to 8-16 weeks after first dose

March 20, New Delhi: India’s apex body on Immunisation, The National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) has recommended reducing the duration of the second dose of Covishield vaccine to 8-16 weeks after the 1st dose, official sources said on Sunday.

Currently, the 2nd dose of Covishield is given 12-16 weeks after the first dose under the National Covid-19 vaccination strategy.

The recommendation for Covishield is yet to be implemented in the national COVID-19 vaccination programme.

Based on NTAGI’s recommendations, the government extended the time between the first and second doses of the Covishield vaccination from 6-8 weeks to 12-16 weeks on May 13, 2021.

PTI Reports states that an official source said that, “The latest recommendation of NTAGI is based on recent global scientific evidence derived from programmatic data.”

Moreover, as per the official, “According to it, when the second dose of Covishield is given eight weeks onwards, the antibody response generated is almost similar when administered at an interval of 12 to 16 weeks.”