The Centre on Monday asked states and Union Territories (UT) to increase the interval between two doses of Covishield vaccine to six to eight weeks based on the recommendation of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI) and National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration (NEGVAC).
The Centre said that the revised interval was applicable to Covishield only and not to Covaxin.
The current interval between two doses of Covishield vaccine is four to six weeks.
"In view of emerging scientific evidence, interval between two doses of a specific COVID-19 vaccine i.e. COVISHIELD, has been revisited by National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization & subsequently by National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19," the Centre said.
"During this meeting the recommendation has been revised to provide 2nd dose of COVISHIELD at 4-8 weeks’ interval after 1st dose, instead of earlier practiced interval of 4-6 weeks. This decision of revised time interval between two doses is applicable only to COVISHIELD and not to COVAXIN vaccine," the Centre added.
Warning that the second dose should no be administered after eight weeks, the Centre said that the protection from COVID-19 is enhanced if the second dose of Covishield is administered between six to eight weeks.
Covishield vaccine is developed by the AstraZeneca in parternship with University of Oxford and produced by the Serum Institute in India (SII).