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BMC will no longer send the reminder notification for second covishield dose

It was earlier said that a gap of 28 days was needed before the second dose of the vaccine, however, studies conducted by scientists and a team of researchers stated that an interval of four to eight weeks would prove to be beneficial.

BMC will no longer send the reminder notification for second covishield dose
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The Government of India (GoI) recently had asked the citizens who have taken the first dose of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, Covishield, to wait for four to eight weeks to take the second dose. Observing the same and following the guidelines, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to stop notifications to the people regarding the second dose. The announcement was made keeping the revised guidelines in mind.

As per records, covishield is supposed to be taken in two shots, and many citizens have taken the first shot of the vaccine. It was earlier said that a gap of 28 days was needed before the second dose of the vaccine, however, studies conducted by scientists and a team of researchers stated that an interval of four to eight weeks would prove to be beneficial instead of the previously announced four to six weeks.

This decision, however, does not apply to Covaxin, which will be administered as per the current guidelines. The state health ministry had released a statement in this regard.

To ensure clarity and to avoid confusion, the local government has decided to withdraw the notification or reminder services which were earlier sent to the citizens via the ward war rooms. Addressing the same, BMC's Additional Commissioner, Suresh Kakani, in a statement given to the Hindustan Times said the citizens will have to decide taking the second dose anytime between four to eight weeks and since this was a voluntary decision, a notification would not help as the government cannot decide the dates on people's behalf.

The service has also been removed from the mobile application.

He further added that number of people taking the vaccine would increase from April, as people above the age of 45 can choose to get vaccinated irrespective of their health condition. Keeping this in mind, managing the dates for the second dose would be tedious and a difficult task.

Research states that the efficacy of the vaccine if given at an interval of 12 weeks is higher than that of eight-week gap. Data, as per the study published in The Lancet, suggests that the efficacy, if the vaccine administered at an eight-week interval is 55.1 per cent, however, if at 12-week interval, the same increases to 81.3 per cent.

However, experts have stated that the second dose of vaccine should not be avoided at any cost as it can help in improving one's immunity.

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