'No plans now to reduce gap between 2nd & booster jabs'

The government has no immediate plans to reduce the gap between the second dose of Covid-19 vaccine and the precaution dose to six months from the current nine, people in the know told ET. Experts at the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI), which held a meeting last week, did not feel the need to reduce the gap between the two doses, the people said.

According to these experts, there had not been any overwhelming response to the booster dose from the eligible population and hence reducing the gap was not needed.

"Less than 1% of the eligible population has so far taken the third dose and hence the need to reduce the gap was not felt," said an official, speaking on the condition of anonymity. Last month, Adar Poonawalla, chief executive of vaccine maker Serum Institute of India, urged shortening of the gap between the second and the precaution dose to six months.


He said after six months, the antibody levels go down. "So why wait for nine months? There is a lot of scientific rationale for it (six months). A lot of the experts in India have also agreed with that, and I think soon the government will reduce the gap from nine to six months," he said at the Times Network's India Economic Conclave 2022 on April 22.

Meanwhile, PTI added that NTAGI will discuss on Tuesday whether to allow early administration of the precaution dose to those travelling abroad for education, employment, sporting events and business commitments.