Last Updated on 17/05/2021 by Khushi
On Thursday, the central government approved to increase the gap between the Covishield doses to 12-16 weeks based on the advice of the Covid19 Working Group, consisting of seven members.
Although the Government authorities say that this decision has been taken based on the evidence proved by the UK, however, this is not true as the intervals suggested by the UK and WHO are 4-12 weeks or 8-12 weeks and on the other hand, the gap between the doses regularized by the Government of India is 12–16 weeks, which is quite different as compared to the intervals suggested by the UK or WHO.
Although it has been said that the government has taken this decision due to the lack of availability of the vaccines in the country, so far there has been no proof about the exact reason behind the decision.
Why does WHO or the UK suggest an 8–12 week gap between the doses of the vaccine?
The biggest reason behind the suggestion of the UK and WHO to keep a longer interval between vaccine doses is the advantages of keeping gaps between vaccine doses, according to research by WHO 8–12 week gap between vaccine doses can rise the effectiveness of the vaccine by 81.3% due to which people can keep themselves protected against Covid for a longer time along with it, if any young person gets affected by the Covid19 after taking the vaccine then they can be protected from the risk of death.
So far there has been a trial in the UK, Brazil, or South Africa in which 17,178 people have participated, and based on this trial, the benefits of an interval of 8-12 weeks between Vaccine doses have been found.
Why lack of vaccine availability a reason behind the decision of keeping this gap between vaccination doses
Since last year, vaccine production in the country has been in full swing, according to a report that 39 lakhs frontline workers were vaccinated in the first two weeks after 16 January, while 16 million vaccines were exported by the end of January.
In India, the serum institute of India or Bharat biotech has been allowed to make the vaccine, at the beginning of the vaccine production everyone was hopeful that more people will get vaccinated in the country this year but in April suddenly again the cases of covid rise in India due to which the demand for vaccines increases, however, with the sudden increased demand for vaccines the production of the vaccines decreases in the country. That is why there has been some speculation that the lack of vaccine is the reason behind the government decision of keeping the longer gap between the vaccine doses.
