Covishield vaccine gap as per science: Health Min

New Delhi: India will revisit the dosage interval for the Covishield vaccine and take appropriate action based on emerging data, N K Arora, chairperson of the working group of immunisation advisory body NTAGI, said.

Describing the Covid and vaccination situation as "very dynamic", he said in a statement that the emerging evidence and reports regarding the efficacy of partial versus full immunisation are also under consideration.

On the decision to increase the gap between two doses of Covishield from four-six weeks to 12-16 weeks, he said the move was based on scientific decision and there was no dissenting voice among the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) members.

"COVID-19 and the vaccination are very dynamic. Tomorrow, if the vaccine platform tells us that a narrower interval is better for our people, even if the benefit is 5-10 per cent, the Committee will take the decision on the basis of merit and its wisdom. On the other hand, if it turns out that the current decision is fine, we will continue with it," Arora said. The decision to increase the gap lay in the fundamental scientific reason regarding the behaviour of adenovector vaccines, a Union Health ministry statement quoted him as telling a national news channel.

Meanwhile, a single day rise of 62,224 new infections was reported taking India's total tally of COVID-19 cases to 2,96,33,105, while the active cases were recorded below nine lakh after 70 days, according to the Union Health ministry data updated on Wednesday.

The COVID-19 death toll climbed to 3,79,573 with 2,542 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The active cases further declined to 8,65,432 comprising 2.92 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 95.80 per cent.

A net decline of 47,946 cases has been recorded in the COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.