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Three members of the advisory body told Reuters that the Indian government doubled the gap between the two doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine without the consent of the scientific organization.
The Ministry of Health announced on May 13 that it had decided to change the interval from 6-8 weeks to 12-16 weeks. At that time, the supply of vaccines was insufficient, and infection cases across the country surged.
The ministry stated that widening the gap was recommended by the National Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI) based on actual evidence mainly from the United Kingdom.
However, NTAGI scientists classified by the government as three of the 14 “core members” stated that the agency does not have enough data to make such a recommendation.
MD Gupte, former director of the State-run National Institute of Epidemiology, stated that NTAGI supports increasing the dosing interval to 8-12 weeks-the interval recommended by the World Health Organization.
But he added that the team does not have data on the impact of more than 12 weeks of intervals.
“8 to 12 weeks are acceptable to us, and 12 to 16 weeks are proposed by the government,” he added.
“This may or may not work. We don’t have information on this.”
His NTAGI colleague Mathew Varghese agrees, saying that the group’s recommendations only last 8-12 weeks.
The Ministry of Health quoted the head of NTAGI’s COVID-19 working group as saying that dosage decisions are based on scientific evidence.
The ministry said on Twitter: “There is no objection among NTAGI members.”
The ministry’s statement It was stated on May 13 that it had accepted the 12-16 week recommendations of NTAGI’s COVID working group and a group of government officials who are mainly responsible for vaccine management, namely NEGVAC.
Government health officials said at a press conference on May 15 that widening the gap is not to solve the problem of vaccine shortages, but a “scientific decision.”
JP Muliyil, a member of the top seven COVID working group, said that NTAGI had discussed increasing the vaccine dose interval, but the agency did not recommend 12-16 weeks.
“The specific number was not quoted,” he said, but did not elaborate.
The head of the COVID working group, NK Arora, declined to comment to Reuters on its recommendations, but said that all its decisions are made by the entire NTAGI collective.
The representative of NEGVAC stated that it “respects NTAGI’s decision and uses it for our work” and declined to elaborate.
South Korea’s real-world data released earlier last month showed that a single dose of AstraZeneca and Pfizer’s vaccine is effective at 86.6% in preventing infections in people aged 60 and over.
Muliyil said this increased confidence within the consulting agency that postponing the second shot would not be harmful.
AstraZeneca vaccine accounts for nearly 90% of the 257.5 million vaccine doses in India.
Some scientists criticized the government for its slow response to a new virus variant that caused a surge in infections in April and May, sparking controversy over dosage.
The government denies the slow response, saying that state-run laboratories have studied mutations in real time and shared data with local authorities so that they can take necessary actions.
India’s top virologist, Shahid Jameel, recently withdrew from the government virus variant team after criticizing New Delhi’s response to the pandemic. He said the authorities should clarify their position on the reasons for the decision to double the dose gap.
He added: “In a situation where we have a fear of spreading, we really should vaccinate people on a large scale and make sure they are protected.”
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