‘Third dose of Covishield Should Be Taken After 6 Months’

Covishield is one of the most administered Covid vaccine variants in India. Serum Institute India is manufacturing the vaccine in the country.

In a media briefing, Serum Institute Chairman Cyrus Poonawalla spoke about the need for the third dose of the vaccine.

“The antibodies go down with time. After six months, the antibodies count drops considerably and this is when the third dose should be taken. We have administered the third dose of Covishield to 7000-8000 employees in Serum Institute,” he said.

Poonawalla says the ideal gap between the first two doses of Covishield is 2 months. He adds that the third dose(booster) will further increase the efficacy period of the Covishield vaccines.

When asked about the mix-and-match method in which a dose of one vaccine is succeeded by another dose of a different Covid vaccine, Cyrus was firmly against this proposal.

“If the mixing method doesn’t work, the manufacturers will start complaining against each other. Moreover, what is the need to mix and match while one vaccine is doing pretty well? I am against it,” he stated.