Daily News Capsule

The gap can be increased for Covidshield to 12-16 weeks, a government panel recommended to the center, as of today 13 may. No changes have been made for Covaxin. 

Pregnant women can choose their vaccine, and nursing women will be eligible for the vaccine after delivery. As of now, nobody is eligible for the shot, the national advisory group on immunization said.

The panel also said that those who have tested positive for covid-19 should put off their vaccination for six months after recovery. 

Also read: covid-19 second wave deadly symptoms you should know 

According to the union health ministry’s protocol, there should be a gap of four to eight weeks after the recovery of covid-19 and the women who are lactating or pregnant are not eligible for a vaccine shot. 

These recommendations will be sent to the national expert group on vaccine administration- NEGVA for approval before they are implemented. 

“Based on the available real life evidence particularly from the UK, the Covid-19 working group agreed for increasing the dosing interval to 12-16 weeks between two doses of Covishield vaccine. No change in interval of Covaxin vaccine doses was recommended,” sources said, according to PTI. 

The covidshield dose is extending for the third time now. Previously, in March, some states and union territories were told to widen the gap from 4 weeks to 6 and 6 to 8 weeks for a better result. 

However, the panel also rejected the proposal of screening all vaccine beneficiaries with RAT before vaccination. 

The continuous changes in vaccine interval was prompted by Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, who tweeted about the extension of interval between two doses. “First, it was four weeks for the second dose, then six eight weeks and now we are told 12-16 weeks. Is this because there are not enough stocks of vaccines… or because professional scientific advice says so?” he asked.