When Should One Take The Second Covid Shot?
By our team of in-house writers.
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First publised on 2021-04-24 02:21:19
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By our team of in-house writers.
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People are often confused when they should take the second dose of the Covid vaccine. When the vaccination drive started in India, the Co-Win app asked one to take the second shot after 4 weeks, by default. That was because it should not generally be taken before four weeks. But as research shows, it is better to take the second shot anywhere between 8 to 12 weeks after the first shot.
To understand why, one has to first know the two kinds of protection Covid vaccines provide. In Protection 1, the first shot generally ensures up to 100% that the infection will not be so seriously debilitating as to require hospitalization and/or result in death. That means after taking the first shot of the vaccine, a person is protected from serious Covid infection. This level of protection is usually reached 21 days after you have taken the shot. But the first shot leaves you with a 35 percent chance of getting a mild or moderate infection.
Protection 2, after taking the second shot, will provide you with a shield against even mild infections. But the percentage of protection provided by the second shot varies according to the time one takes it after the first shot. For instance, if you take the second shot 4 weeks after the first shot, there is still a 30 percent chance of getting mildly infected. But if you take the shot after 8 weeks, it drops to just 25 percent and after 12 weeks it drops further to 20 percent. Delaying it beyond 12 weeks is not recommended.
So it is best that one takes the second Covid shot between 8 to 12 weeks of taking the first shot and preferably closer to 12 weeks to get the maximum protection.
(This article is based on research data in public domain as per the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca. It is applicable for persons without co-morbidities)
