AMBALA / ROHTAK / HYDERABAD: On Saturday, Haryana’s Minister of Health and Home, Anil Vij, tested positive for Covid-19, just fifteen days after he volunteered and was administered a test dose of developmental Covaxin indigenous to Bharat Biotech.
He was scheduled to receive a second injection of the Covid-19 vaccine on December 18, exactly 28 days after the first on November 20.
Vij Testing Positive Will Not Affect Trials, Say PGIMS Doctors
I got a positive corona test. I am admitted to the Ambala Cantt Civil Hospital. All those who have been in contact with me are advised to get the crown test, Haryana Health and Home Minister Anil Vij tweeted. On Friday night he had complained of body pain and fever. A Covid-19 test was performed on Saturday morning with a rapid antigen test kit and the result was positive. “After that, we collected his RT-PCR samples and he tested positive again,” said Ambala Medical Director (CMO) Dr. Kuldeep Singh.
Bharat Biotech clarified that the vaccine had been designed to be effective only after trial participants received two doses 28 days apart. Without referring to Vij, the company issued a statement in which it mentions that “the efficacy of the vaccine will be determined only after 14 days after receiving the second dose.”
The Hyderabad-based company also said its trials were “double-blind and randomized,” implying that 50% of the volunteers receive doses of Covaxin and the remaining half only a placebo. Participants, researchers and the company do not know who is assigned to which group, Bharat Biotech had explained at the beginning of the trials in mid-November.
Covaxin, developed by Bharat Biotech in conjunction with ICMR, is currently in efficacy studies with 26,000 volunteers at 25 sites across the country. PGIMS Rohtak physicians said that Vij testing positive would not affect ongoing Phase III trials. The minister was the first volunteer.
He was scheduled to receive a second injection of the Covid-19 vaccine on December 18, exactly 28 days after the first on November 20.
Vij Testing Positive Will Not Affect Trials, Say PGIMS Doctors
I got a positive corona test. I am admitted to the Ambala Cantt Civil Hospital. All those who have been in contact with me are advised to get the crown test, Haryana Health and Home Minister Anil Vij tweeted. On Friday night he had complained of body pain and fever. A Covid-19 test was performed on Saturday morning with a rapid antigen test kit and the result was positive. “After that, we collected his RT-PCR samples and he tested positive again,” said Ambala Medical Director (CMO) Dr. Kuldeep Singh.
Bharat Biotech clarified that the vaccine had been designed to be effective only after trial participants received two doses 28 days apart. Without referring to Vij, the company issued a statement in which it mentions that “the efficacy of the vaccine will be determined only after 14 days after receiving the second dose.”
The Hyderabad-based company also said its trials were “double-blind and randomized,” implying that 50% of the volunteers receive doses of Covaxin and the remaining half only a placebo. Participants, researchers and the company do not know who is assigned to which group, Bharat Biotech had explained at the beginning of the trials in mid-November.
Covaxin, developed by Bharat Biotech in conjunction with ICMR, is currently in efficacy studies with 26,000 volunteers at 25 sites across the country. PGIMS Rohtak physicians said that Vij testing positive would not affect ongoing Phase III trials. The minister was the first volunteer.
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