March 22, 2021: Accepting the recommendations of the expert committee on vaccine administration, the Union government on Monday asked the states and Union Territories to increase the interval between two doses of Covishield --- the Oxford-AstraZencea vaccine produced locally by Serum Institute of India --- to 4-8 weeks.

Keeping the existing scientific evidence in view, it appears that that the protection from coronavirus is enhanced if the second dose of Covishield is administered between 6-8 weeks, the government said.

However, it warned that the second dose of vaccine should not be administered after 8 weeks.

The interval between two doses of Covishield has been revisited by National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI) and subsequently by National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for Covid (NEGVAC) in its 20th meeting.

During the meeting, the recommendation has been revised to provide second dose of Covishield at 4-8 weeks’ interval after the first dose, instead of earlier practiced interval of 4-6 weeks.

"This decision of revised time interval between two doses is applicable only to Covishield and not to Covaxin," the government said.

The Union Health Secretary urged the states and union territories to instruct the officials to take necessary steps to widely disseminate the message of the revised dosing interval among vaccinators and recipients of Covishield.