Wondering how long you have to wait for your 2nd dose of COVID-19 vaccine? The Centre’s self-registration app CoWIN has finally updated the information. After much debate over when to take the second vaccine shot, the CoWIN digital portal has made the requisite changes making online or on-site appointments for Covishield vaccine possible ONLY if the period after first dose for a beneficiary is at least 84 days (between 12 to 16 weeks), as approved by the Union Health Ministry.
What You Should Know About Covishield 2nd Dose
“CoWIN digital portal has been reconfigured to reflect change in dose interval of Covishield vaccine to 12-16 weeks,” the health ministry stated. Studies have revealed that the Covishield vaccine works better when the two doses are spaced further apart.
Earlier, the government had advised that the gap between two Covishield doses should be 4-8 weeks
“The changes in CoWIN platform were notified to the States/UTs during the meeting. Secretary urged the States to break the myth that CoWIN platform is biased to those abled by technology & requested them to make good use of facilitated cohort registration,” the health ministry clarified.
What if the booking is already done?
Already booked online appointments for the second dose of Covishield will remain valid and are not being cancelled by CoWIN, but the beneficiaries are advised to reschedule their appointments for a later date beyond the 84th day from the date of the first dose of vaccination.
The Central government has reiterated to the states and UTs that the online appointments booked for the second dose of Covishield prior to this change of the interval between the two doses, must be honored, and field staff instructed that, if such beneficiaries do come for vaccination, the second Covishield dose must be administered and the beneficiaries must not be turned away.
They have also been advised to undertake awareness activities to inform the beneficiaries about this change. The Covid Working Group chaired by Dr N.K. Arora had recommended an extension of the gap between the first and second doses of Covishield vaccine to 12-16 weeks.
This has been accepted by the government on May 13 and it has communicated this change to states and Union Territories, Arora said.
What about Covaxin?
There is no change in the gap between two doses of Covaxin as the vaccine has been developed in a different method. Experts have said that there is no data suggesting higher effectiveness of Covaxin, which contains a “dead virus, incapable of infecting people but still able to instruct the immune system to mount a defensive action against an infection”. Covaxin doses are given to citizens 28 days apart.
