2nd scheduled dose must for full benefit of vax, says Govt
The Government may have been recommending inoculation of both the doses of vaccine within the stipulated time for realising the full benefit of vaccination, but an RTI reply has said that over 3.86 crore people have failed to get their second dose of anti-Covid vaccines — Covishield and Covaxin — within the scheduled period.
India’s nationwide vaccination drive completed eight months this week.
According to information on the CoWIN portal, as of Thursday afternoon, 44,22,85,854 people have received their first dose, while 12,59,07,443 have taken their second, indicating that the overall pace of vaccination is picking up slowly but not fast enough to cover roughly 94 crore adults by the end of this year.
Activist Raman Sharma had filed a query under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, seeking to know from the Government the number of people who had received the first dose of vaccines — Covishield and Covaxin — but did not take the second within the stipulated time period.
In response to the query, the Covid-19 Vaccine Administration Cell of the Union Health Ministry said it recommended the second dose of Covishield be taken within 84-112 days after the first, while in case of Covaxin the gap should between 28-42 days.
“The total number of vaccines (beneficiaries) who got their first dose of Covishield vaccine but did not get their second dose within stipulated period of time as prescribed by the Govt of India as per the due report of Co-WIN portal is 3,40,72,993 (data as on 17th August 2021),” the response said.
It further said the total number of beneficiaries who got their first dose of Covaxin but did not get their second within the stipulated period of time is 46,78,406 (data as on 17th August 2021).
“It is recommended that those who get their first dose of vaccine should get their second dose in the stipulated period. There is no recommendation that those who got their first dose of Covid vaccine but did not get the second dose within the stipulated period as prescribed by Government of India should get their first dose again,” it said.
In the “Frequently Asked Questions” section on the website, the Government recommends that “both doses of vaccine should be taken for realising the full benefit of vaccination”.