NTAGI recommends reducing gap between two doses of Covishield
New Delhi, March 20: The National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI) has recommended the Union Ministry of Health to reduce the gap between two doses of Covid-19 vaccine Covishield, said sources.
According to sources, the duration of the second dose can be reduced to somewhere between 8 to 16 weeks after the first dose in view of the ongoing Omicron variant of the coronavirus infection.
As per the current guidelines, the second dose of the Serum Institute of India's (SII) Covishield vaccine is given after 12-16 weeks of the first dose.
This is, however, just a recommendation which is has been made to ramp up the vaccination drive in India.
"This is just a recommendation but no decision has been taken so far. The purpose behind the recommendations is to ramp up the vaccination and vaccinate beneficiaries for the second dose," said sources.
Considering the recommendations by NTAGI, the Government of India last year extended the gap between the two doses of the Covishield from 6-8 weeks to 12-16 weeks.
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The NTAGI has not yet recommended any changes to the schedule for Bharat Biotech's Covaxin, which includes a 28-day interval between doses.
Meanwhile, the cumulative Covid-19 vaccination coverage in India has surpassed the 181.21 crore mark and over 1.50 crore doses of Covishield have been administered in India so far.
Over 17 lakh vaccine doses have been given to children aged 12 to 14, with vaccinations beginning on March 16 this year. In this age group, 17,36,464 children have received their first dose of the Corbevax vaccine.
So far, 2,17,33,502 people have received the 'precaution dose,' which has been provided to frontline employees, healthcare workers, and those over the age of 60.
In the age group of 15-18 years, 5,62,03,581 children have been administered the first dose and 3,54,81,792 have received the second dose of Bharat Biotech's Covaxin, the only vaccine being given to the category.
Meanwhile, the Health Ministry in a statement stated that more than 183.52 crore (1,83,52,25,060) vaccine doses have been provided to states and UTs so far through the government's free of cost channel and through direct state procurement category.
More than 17.04 crore (17,04,30,756) balance and unutilized Covid-19 vaccine doses are still available with the States and UTs to be administered, it added.
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-PTC News
