Just hours after Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij, who was administered a dose of Covaxin last month, confirmed he has developed Coronavirus symptoms, the Union Health Ministry on Saturday clarified that Vij took only the first dose of the two-dose vaccine.
"The antibodies against the infection build up in a human being only after a specific number of days pass after the second dose of the vaccine is taken. Since this is a two-dose vaccine. Minister in question has taken only one dose of the vaccine," the ministry said in a statement.
In the case of this vaccine, trial volunteers receive two intramuscular injections approximately 28 days apart.
Covaxin trials
Participants are randomly assigned to receive Covaxin or placebo. The trial is double-blinded, such that the investigators, the participants and the company are not aware of who is assigned to which group.
The statement from the ministry came after the 67-year-old minister tested positive two weeks after being given a shot of the vaccine, which is being indigenously developed by the Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research, at a hospital in Ambala as part of the third phase of the trial.
"I have been tested Corona positive. I am admitted in Civil Hospital Ambala Cantt. All those who have come in close contact to me are advised to get themselves tested for corona," Vij tweeted on Saturday.
(With inputs from IANS)
