Interval between AstraZeneca doses cut to 8 weeks as variant spreads
DGS's latest guidelines advise that the interval between the first and second doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine against Covid-19 should be reduced to eight weeks.
The interval between the first and second doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine against Covid-19 has been reduced in Portugal to eight weeks from the current 12 to ensure “faster protection” against the transmission of new “variants of concern” of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, according to the country’s Directorate-General of Health (DGS).
The recommendation is contained in the DGS’s latest guidelines ‘Campaign for Vaccination against COVID-19 Vaccine VAXZEVRIA’, released on Thursday, which updates the vaccination schedule for this particular vaccine.
According to DGS, the vaccination schedule for VAXZEVRIA, previously better known as the AstraZeneca vaccine, is two doses, eight to 12 weeks apart, “with the eight-week interval currently recommended in order to ensure the most rapid protection” conferred by full vaccination “in the face of transmission of new variants of concern (VoC) of SARS-CoV-2” such as the Delta variant first identified in India.
New cases of the virus have been rising in Portugal in recent days, with the Delta variant spreading particularly rapidly in Lisbon and the surrounding region.
