No plan yet to revise Covishield 84-day dose gap, clarifies govt

There is no proposal in consideration to change the dose interval between two Covid-19 vaccines--Covishield, Covaxin, and Sputnik V in India, National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation's (NTAGI) chairman Dr Nk Arora said on Thursday.

Arora while speaking to ANI said, "There are several studies and programmatic data collection processes are on to assess the vaccine effectiveness. NTAGI is reviewing the vaccine effectiveness data on regular basis. Currently, there is no proposal for change in the interval of doses for COVISHIELD, COVAXIN, and SPUTNIK V under consideration."

Earlier there were reports that government could make a move to reduce the minimum gap between two doses of the Covishield Covid-19 vaccine, but NTAGI has denied the reports.

At present, Covishield is being administered in the country with the two doses having a gap of 12-16 weeks.

In the month of MAY this year, the gap was increased from 6-8 weeks to 12-16 weeks.When the nationwide vaccination has started in January this year, the Covishield dosage gap was set at 4-6 weeks.