Ukraine health officials recommend reducing interval between two doses of CoronaVac
That’s according to the ministry’s press service, Ukrinform reports.
Due to the rapid spread of the Delta coronavirus strain, the gradual increase in morbidity in Ukraine, and the need to protect as many Ukrainians as possible, “the Ministry of Health recommends reducing the interval between the first and second dose of CoronaVac vaccine by Sinovac Biotech to the minimum period specified in the official instructions, that is, 14 days,” the statement says.
It is noted that in order to make such a decision, the ministry’s experts analyzed the recommendations issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) and recent studies of the efficacy of the CoronaVac vaccine at different intervals between doses.
According to various research works summarized by the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts, after two-dose vaccination with an interval of 14 days, the efficacy of CoronaVac against the development of symptomatic disease ranged from 51% to 84%, while that against hospitalization reached 100%.
The latest phase 3 study carried out in Turkey with a 14-day interval for CoronaVac, published in July 2021, found a seroconversion (antibody generation) rate of 89.7%.
Therefore, the Ministry of Health recommends that physicians invite patients for a second dose of CoronaVac 14 days after the first one was administered. In addition, patients may also ask to have their second dose at this interval.
As Ukrinform reported earlier, 1,247 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed in Ukraine over the past day, August 11.
Throughout the entire pandemic in Ukraine, 2,262,601 cases were confirmed, including 2,194,791 recoveries and 53,173 deaths.
Over the past 24 hours, 162,049 persons were vaccinated for COVID-19 in Ukraine.
Since the launch of the inoculation campaign, 4,427,898 persons have been vaccinated for coronavirus, of whom 4,427,896 have received a single dose and 2,580,552 have been fully immunized.
A total of 7,008,448 vaccinations were performed.
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