The Centre on Sunday said its COVID-19 vaccine registration and appointment portal CoWIN has been reconfigured to reflect the extension of interval between two doses of Covishield to 12-16 weeks.
Earlier this week, the government had accepted the recommendation of COVID Working Group chaired by Dr N K Arora to extend the gap between the first and second doses of Covishield vaccine to 12-16 weeks.
"Government of India has communicated this change to states and union territories (UTs). The CoWIN digital portal has also been reconfigured to reflect this extension of interval for two doses of Covishield to 12-16 weeks," the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said in a statement.
It clarified that already booked online appointments for second dose of Covishield will remain valid and are not being cancelled by CoWIN. However, it advised beneficiaries to reschedule their appointments for a later date beyond the 84th day from the date of first dose vaccination.
The government has reiterated to the states and UTs that the online appointments booked for second dose of Covishield prior to the change of interval between the two doses of Covishield must be honoured, it said.
"The Union Health Ministry has advised the states/UTs that the field staff may be instructed that if such beneficiaries do come for vaccination, the second Covishield dose must be administered and they must not be turned away. They have also been advised to undertake awareness activities to inform the beneficiaries about this change," the statement added.