No need to panic over dose interval of Covishield, says Centre

The government Friday said there is no need to panic on the need for an immediate change in the dosage interval of Covishield vaccine underlining that reducing the time gap requires proper scientific study in the Indian scenarioIn the context of some media reports quoting recent studies that it would be better to shorten the gap between two doses of Covishield vaccine in light of the variants in circulation Dr V K Paul member Health at NITI Aayog said there is a need to balance such concernsAddressing a media briefing on Covid19 he said There is no need for any panic suggesting need for immediate switchover or change in the gap between the doses All these decisions must be taken very carefully We must remember that when we increased the gap we had to consider the risk posed by the virus to those who have received only one dose But the counterpoint was that more people will then be able to get the first dose thereby giving a reasonable degree of immunity to more peopleDecision regarding interval between 2 doses of Covishield has been reviewed amp updated based on scientific studies in context of prevailing COVID19 scenario in our countryAny changes in future too shall be taken by NTAGI guided by the same principleshelliphttpstcoXboPUAjU3b pictwittercomq4lzgcpQmWmdash Dr Harsh Vardhan drharshvardhan June 12 2021We need to balance these concerns So please remember that we need to necessarily have this debate and discourse in the public domain however the decision has to be taken by appropriate fora comprising eminent people who are knowledgeable about this he saidPaul said in the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation NTAGI there are quite a few people who have been a part of WHO panels and committees and are globally renowned and recognised for their eminence Moreover NTAGI is regarded as a standard when it comes to global and national immunization programmes So please respect their decisions he saidWelcoming a discourse on this topic Paul highlighted the need for due scientific process in arriving at such decisionsHe appealed to the public to respect the decision taken by NTAGI a body of globally renowned expertsLet the decision regarding dose interval be examined by NTAGI according to due process The UK must have adopted due process and examined data scientifically to revise their previous decision regarding the gap The UK had earlier kept the gap at 12 weeks but as per data available to us we did not consider it safe at that point he saidldquoSo let us entrust this to our scientific fora they must be addressing it already They will review it based on the pandemic situation in our country depending on the extent of prevalence of the delta variant in our country and then take a comprehensive view Whichever decision is taken by our scientific community we will honour it Paul statedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever