India is fighting against coronavirus and it has become the fastest country to vaccinate more than 70 lakh people. The first vaccine was given on 16th January to frontline workers and healthcare workers. Now it is time to vaccinate again with a second dose. Here, the question arises that why do people need a second dose? Wasn't the first dose enough? What will happen if the dose will not be given on time or not given at all? What are the actions of other countries regarding the dose?
According to vaccine experts, the vaccine was divided into two parts where the first dose prepares our body to recognize coronavirus and builds immunity. The Second dose is also called a boost shot. It prepares our body to fight and strengthens our immunity. Both the shots are important to the body.
The second shot will be given on the 13th of February to 1 crore healthcare and 2 crore frontline workers. After this, people in the risk zone and 27 crore aged people will be vaccinated. it is the responsibility of workers to get themselves vaccinated.
Every country is adopting different strategies. Britain has decided to take a gap of 12 weeks, whereas, America's centre for disease control is taking a gap of 6 weeks. Dr Mala V. Konoria, the consultant in the infectious disease department of Jaslok Hospital and Research Centre, said, the effectiveness of single-stranded Covisheild is 76% on 90th day. it maintains protective antibody levels also. if the second dose is given within 6 weeks, the effectiveness will be 54.9% and if the gap is of 12 weeks, the effectiveness will result in 82%.
The central government provided guidelines about the vaccination earlier, which states that there should a gap of 28 days in applying both the doses. people will have to stick to one type of vaccination, which means if someone has taken a dose of covisheild, he has to take the second dose of the same vaccine. The boost shot will start showing its result after 14 days. Adding more to your knowledge, Bharat Biotech ( made COVAXIN) and Serum Institute of India (made Covisheild) also released their fact sheet which sates that there should be a difference of 28 days in both the shots. The guidelines have not changed till now.