While many countries have started approving the third Booster Dose of the Covid vaccine amid fears of rising Coronavirus variants, India has not made any announcement in the matter so far. However, Cyrus Poonawalla, Chairman of Serum Institute of India (SII), Pune, has said that the third dose of the Covid-19 vaccine (Covishield) should be taken after 6 months. It is also said that the ideal interval between 2 doses of this vaccine should be 2 months.
Antibodies are reduced
A report published in The Lancet says that the antibodies against the Coronavirus disease decrease after some time. When asked about this, Poonawalla said, ‘It is true, but memory cells remain.’
The state says that Covishield is a version of the Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccine produced by SII in collaboration with Oxford University. Covishield is also one of the first two vaccines that the Government of India allowed to be used in emergencies earlier this year. This was followed by large-scale use of Covaxin as well as Covishield in the indigenous vaccinations conducted to prevent Covid.
Poonawalla takes the third dose
SII Chairman Cyrus Poonawalla added, “After six months, the antibodies go down and that is why I have taken the third dose. We have given the third dose to our seven to eight thousand SII employees. For those who have completed the second dose, it is my request to take a booster dose third dose after six months,”
On the subject of ideal difference between 2 doses of vaccine, he said, “Since there was a shortage of vaccine, the Modi government changed it to three months, but a two-month gap is ideal.”
Lockdown was not an effective way
On the other hand, Poonawalla said it was not effective to deal with the deadly coronavirus by imposing lockdown. He said, “If there is no lockdown, the infection will spread initially, but later hard immunity will prevail. I am giving priority to hard immunity because of the rate of deaths due to Coronavirus. Lockdown is a good option when the death rate is high.’
He said that in most cases, people died due to Covid because they ignored the infection or reached the doctor late.