Central govt asks states to increase gap between COVID-19 vaccines to 6-8 weeks

People get vaccinated at Nair Hospital on Monday. Pic/Ashish Raje

More than 42,000 people took the jab on Monday, out of which 22,000 were senior citizens and 5,000 were people with comorbidities. The central government has written to the states saying the gap between two doses of the Covishield vaccine should be increased from 28 days to six to eight weeks. But the BMC hadn't issued any order about the vaccine gap till late evening on Monday.

Until now, 1,24,914 lakh healthcare and frontline workers have taken the second dose, out of which more than 95 per cent, 1,23,855 lakh took Covishield and 1,059 went for Covaxin. As per the letter of the central government, the revised interval applies only to Covishield and not to Covaxin. According to the letter, the protection is enhanced if the second dose was administered between six to eight weeks but not later than that. The vaccination of senior citizens and people above 45 years with comorbidities started on March 1, so there is still a week to complete 28 days according to previous rules. But around 50 per cent health and frontline workers have already taken their second dose. BMC officials remained unavailable for comment on this.

The BMC has asked private hospitals to increase the number of vaccinations and aim to give one lakh vaccines per day. But even on Monday, the number remained below 45,000. The doses are being administered at vaccination centres in 31 public hospitals and 59 private facilities across the city. Approval is pending for 21 new private centres from the central government.