Why Single-Dose Covishield May Not Be Such A Bad Idea

Maximum Coverage With One Dose Could Help Slam The Brakes On Covid

- Abhilash.Gaur

We recommend a two-dose regimen for Covishield, but if supplies are tight, giving one dose to the maximum number of people for maximum benefit might be a good idea. However, this decision would have to be based on data and disease modelling in the affected country

—PROF ANDREW J POLLARD, DIRECTOR, OXFORD VACCINE GROUP

Last year, the UK’s vaccine task-force chief Kate Bingham listed ‘single dose’ among the top traits of an “ideal pandemic vaccine”. In January, J&J’s chief scientific officer Dr Paul Stoffels described their oneshot vaccine as “the pandemic vaccine” because you can vaccinate at twice the speed with it.

But when a few days ago reports said India might consider a one-shot strategy for Covishield, Twitter rolled its eyes. A day later, Niti Ayog member Dr VK Paul clarified: “There is absolutely no change in the schedule of Covishield doses; it will be two doses only.”

Was it really a bizarre idea, or could a single-dose strategy for Covishield have its uses? TOI took the question to Professor Andrew J Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group and chief investigator of the ‘Oxford’ Covid vaccine’s global clinical trials. The Oxford vaccine is called Covishield in India.

‘Covishield was planned as one-shot vaccine’

One of the grounds for suggesting a one-shot strategy was that Covishield “started out as a single-dose vaccine.”