In the case of Covishield, Bhushan said, recipients are advised to stay at vaccination centres for half an hour and report in case of uneasiness.
NEW DELHI: The Centre on Tuesday said that the key difference between the administration of Covishield and Covaxin is that the first group of recipients are being followed up only “passively” unlike more robust look out for adverse events in the case of the other vaccine.
Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin is being used in India despite still being under Phase 3 trial, with the drug regulator mandating that the vaccine can only be used in “clinical trial mode”.
To a media query, Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan said while there is a robust mechanism in place to monitor adverse events following immunisation, there is another difference in the way the recipients are followed up in the case of two vaccines.
In the case of Covishield, Bhushan said, recipients are advised to stay at vaccination centres for half an hour and report in case of uneasiness.
For Covaxin, recipients are called everyday to check on their health updates. “They are also asked to sign detailed forms on their health status for a week,” Bhushan said. On being asked about who gets to decide on the use of Covishield and Covaxin, he said it was up to the states.
“States decide which vaccine they want. The Centre delivers vaccines to states and then the respective government decides which vaccine centres will get how many vaccines.” India’s active Covid-19 caseload has come down to 2 lakhs with only Kerala and Maharashtra registering over 50,000 cases, he said.
Covaxin is being used in India despite still being under Phase 3 trial, with the drug regulator mandating that the vaccine can only be used in “clinical trial mode”.
