COVISHIELD 90% EFFECTIVE IF DOSES GIVEN AFTER GAP OF 2-3 MONTHS: ADAR POONAWALLA

Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla has said that the effectiveness of the Covishield vaccine rises to as much as 90 percent if the two shots are given by the gap of about 2.5-3 months. His comment is found to be in contrast with The Lancet study, published earlier this year, which had reported that it has an efficacy of 70% provided with one month gap between the doses. “One arm of trials, in which doses were given one month apart, was 60-70 percent effective. And there was another group of a few thousand patients where they gave a gap of 2-3 months between the two doses. That is where they found the efficacy to be 90 percent,” Adar Poonawalla said. He added that if you look at other vaccines as well, the long gap you keep between the doses, the better is their efficacy. Moreover, in the last month, the government has decided to increase the interval between the first and second doses of Covishield to up to eight weeks upon the recommendation of the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration. “We found an excellent response below the age of 50 with one dose. We can say after a month, even with one dose, there is excellent protection, more than even what you find in a Covid-19 recovered patient. About 70 per cent of people are fully protected with one dose, but the second dose is necessary for long-term immunity protection,” he stated. To sum up, increasing the gap between two jabs increases the efficacy of the vaccine, for instance, Covishiled trials conducted in other countries found that the vaccine efficacy was increased if the second shot was administered after six weeks of the first one. Also, the vaccine starts creating immunity a month after the first dose of the vaccine is administered. However, even after the second dose, everybody should wear masks, maintain social distancing till treatment is available for the disease or till we reach a certain level of herd immunity, which will take a few years.