Hours after Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij, who was administered with a dose of Covaxin last month, had announced that he tested positive for Covid-19, the Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical company Bharat Biotech said that the efficacy of its Coronavirus vaccine could be determined only fourteen days after a second dose.
The clarification came alongside the Union Health Ministry's clarification after Vij tested positive days after being given one 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.
On November 20, Vij had volunteered for the phase III trial and was given the first dose of the vaccine.
It will be early to judge the effects of the vaccine on Vij as the outcome is measured after 14 days of the second dose administered.
The company in a statement said, "Covaxin clinical trials are based on a 2-dose schedule, given 28 days apart. The vaccine efficacy will be determined 14 days post the 2nd dose. Covaxin has been designed to be efficacious when subjects receive both doses and post the 14 days after the 2nd dose.”
It added, "The phase 3 trials are double-blinded and randomized, where 50 per cent of subjects will receive the vaccine and 50 per cent of subjects will receive a placebo."
By Double-blinded, the company means that the investigators, the participants and the company would not be aware of who is assigned to which group.
The Health Ministry has also affirmed that Vij has taken only one dose of the two-dose vaccine regime, thus he developed the virus. "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. The Minister in question has taken only one dose of the vaccine," the ministry said in a statement.
Earlier on Saturday, Vij took to his Twitter account to announce that he has tested corona positive and is Civil Hospital Ambala Cantonment, requesting all those who came in close contact with him to get themselves tested for corona.
Also Read: Vij took only 1st dose of double-dose Covid vax, says Health Ministry
The 67-year-old BJP leader was administered the dose at the Civil Hospital in Ambala by surgeon Kuldeep Singh.
Anil Vij is the first Cabinet Minister of any state government who volunteered to take the trial dose.