Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij, who tested positive for Covid-19 a little over two weeks after joining a trial for a vaccine candidate, said Sunday that only 14 days had passed since he was “vaccinated.” . Vij also said that at the time of the injection the doctors told him that the antibodies develop after 14 days of the second dose.
The trial is undoubtedly a randomized, double-blind experiment, so half of the volunteers receive a placebo and the other half the vaccine, according to the Bharat Biotech trial registry. This means that neither Vij nor those who gave the injection would know if what they gave him was actually the vaccine. Technically, there is a 50% chance that you have received the vaccine.
“It is a double-blind trial (that is, neither the recipient nor the researchers know who receives a vaccine and who receives a placebo). These trials have a very rigorous protocol for unmasking, ”said an official from the Union Ministry of Health who asked not to be identified.
“Before administering Covaxin, the doctors told me that antibodies would develop after 14 days from the second dose… I am being treated in a civil hospital and I feel fine. It’s only been 14 days since I received the first injection, ”Vij wrote on Twitter in Hindi.
The minister’s tweet comes after his illness and participation in Bharat Biotech International Limited’s Covaxin trial sparked confusion about the vaccine on Saturday. Hours after Vij tested positive for the coronavirus disease, the pharmaceutical company clarified that the injection should be protective only two weeks after the second dose, which is given after a 28-day interval after the first dose.
The minister himself subsequently addressed the concerns by issuing a similar statement to the PTI news agency.
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“They told me that antibodies start to develop after the second dose, which is given within 28 days of receiving the first injection. And full antibodies develop 14 days after the second dose is given. So the complete cycle takes 42 days. In between there is no protection, ”Vij told PTI by phone.
Developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the government’s National Institute of Virology, Covaxin is a two-dose vaccine. It uses an inactivated virus to provoke an immune response in people. Third-phase trials of the potential coronavirus disease vaccine are currently underway with more than 25,000 volunteers in 25 centers across the country.
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