It is ideal to take two doses of Covishield within two months, and another dose of the vaccine must be taken after six months, said Serum Institute of India (SII) chairman, Cyrus Poonawalla, on Friday.

Asked about a report in the medical journal Lancet that antibodies against coronavirus created by Covishield, the vaccine manufactured by the SII, decrease in some time, Poonawalla said to reporters that while antibodies do decrease, but “memory cells” remain.

“After six months, the antibodies go down and that is why I have taken the third dose. We have given the third dose to our seven to eight thousand SII employees. For those who have completed the second dose, it is my request to take a booster dose (third dose) after six months,” he said.

He spoke at a press conference after receiving the prestigious Lokmanya Tilak award. The ideal gap between two doses of Covishield is two months, he said. “Since there was a shortage of the vaccine, the Modi government changed it to three months, but a two-month gap is ideal,” Poonawalla added. He also remarked that lockdown was not the best way to deal with the virus.