Impress upon Centre to reduce gap between two doses, Villupuram MP urges CM

The MP said experts have been emphasizing that vaccination alone offered higher protection against infection; the Centre’s delay in disbursing vaccines to the States and increasing the dosing interval is unfortunate, he said

VCK leader and Villupuram Member of Parliament D. Ravikumar has urged Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to take steps and impress upon the Union government the need to reduce the present gap between the two doses of the Covishield vaccine. In a letter addressed to the Chief Minister, Mr. Ravikumar said that the Union government had extended the gap between the first and second doses of the vaccine to 12-16 weeks. “The Centre’s decision was completely in contradiction with the recommendations of experts from the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI). It has now come to light that the Union government had unilaterally taken the decision to increase the gap between the vaccines against the suggestions of the advisory body,” he said.