<p>People who have already taken two doses of the Covishield vaccine can ignore the government’s new directives, doctors say.</p>.<p>Earlier this week, the central government told the states that the gap between the two doses of Covishield should be increased from 28 days to six to eight weeks.</p>.<p>Dr Sheetal Chaurasia, consultant-pulmonary medicine, says the results of a study published in the medical journal Lancet paved the way for the new recommendations.</p>.<p>“In a subgroup analysis, a certain number of people were given the second dose after six to 12 weeks. A secondary analysis found that the efficacy of this group was higher than that of the group vaccinated after 28 days,” she elaborates.</p>.<p>This doesn’t mean that the vaccine is not effective for those who have already received their second dose. “The efficacy is close to 60 per cent if given after 28 days, while it is around 80 per cent for six weeks or later,” she says. There is no need for another dose for those who have already taken the second one (mostly health professionals and frontline workers), she says.</p>.<p>“For those yet to receive the second dose, it will be administered according to the new directives,” she says.</p>.<p>Dr Ravindra M Mehta, senior consultant, pulmonology, attributes the change in strategy to ‘dynamic information’.</p>.<p>“As more data comes in, it shows that immunogenicity is better if the dose is delayed,” he says. </p>
<p>People who have already taken two doses of the Covishield vaccine can ignore the government’s new directives, doctors say.</p>.<p>Earlier this week, the central government told the states that the gap between the two doses of Covishield should be increased from 28 days to six to eight weeks.</p>.<p>Dr Sheetal Chaurasia, consultant-pulmonary medicine, says the results of a study published in the medical journal Lancet paved the way for the new recommendations.</p>.<p>“In a subgroup analysis, a certain number of people were given the second dose after six to 12 weeks. A secondary analysis found that the efficacy of this group was higher than that of the group vaccinated after 28 days,” she elaborates.</p>.<p>This doesn’t mean that the vaccine is not effective for those who have already received their second dose. “The efficacy is close to 60 per cent if given after 28 days, while it is around 80 per cent for six weeks or later,” she says. There is no need for another dose for those who have already taken the second one (mostly health professionals and frontline workers), she says.</p>.<p>“For those yet to receive the second dose, it will be administered according to the new directives,” she says.</p>.<p>Dr Ravindra M Mehta, senior consultant, pulmonology, attributes the change in strategy to ‘dynamic information’.</p>.<p>“As more data comes in, it shows that immunogenicity is better if the dose is delayed,” he says. </p>
