India will administer inactive novel coronavirus vaccines in two doses, 28 days apart, the country's drug authority said on Sunday.
As India gears up for the world's largest vaccination program, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare addressed apprehensions expressed by the public regarding the Covid-19 vaccine's effectiveness, safety and availability, NDTV reported.
In a video issued by the health ministry, Dr Randeep Guleria, director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) answered commonly asked questions regarding the dosage of the vaccine saying that two doses of the vaccine will have to be taken 28 days apart and protective levels of antibodies generally would develop two weeks after the second dose.
He further informed that after all doses of the vaccine are administered, a QR-code based certificate will also be sent to the mobile number of the beneficiary and recommended that after vaccination, patients should take rest for at least 30 minutes.
The AIIMS Director also cautioned that the different Covid-19 vaccines are not interchangeable, and people should complete their entire schedule of vaccination by one type.
Regarding vaccination of persons who actively had Covid-19, he recommended that they defer vaccination for at least 14 days after symptoms are resolved.
He further said that those who had recovered should also receive the complete schedule of the Covid-19 vaccine to help in a better immune response against the disease.
He also said that some degree of common side effects like mild fever, pain at the side, body aches, will likely be seen in some individuals. "States have been asked to start making arrangements to deal with any Covid-19 related side effects," Guleria added.
The efficacy of the Indian vaccine Covaxin could "go up much more" than 60% after two doses are given, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
Bharat Biotech earlier said they could produce up to 300 million doses a year.
"While this vaccine addresses an unmet medical need during this pandemic, our goal is to provide global access to populations that need it the most," the company's chairman, Krishna Ella, said. "Covaxin has generated excellent safety data with robust immune responses."
An opposition lawmaker and former minister, however, questioned the approval process for Covaxin.
"Bharat Biotech is a first-rate enterprise, but it is puzzling that internationally accepted protocols relating to phase 3 trials are being modified for Covaxin," Jairam Ramesh wrote on Twitter.
The regulator on Sunday also allowed Cadila Healthcare Ltd to conduct Phase-III trials on 26,000 participants for its DNA-platform vaccine candidate, saying the interim trial data had shown it was "safe" and prompted an immune response under a three-dose regimen.
