'Covaxin, Covishield properly tested and are safe': Madhya Pradesh CM

Two days ahead of the nationwide coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccination drive, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on Thursday that Covaxin and Covishield vaccines are safe. He also said that both these vaccines have been properly tested and there is no difference between them.

On January 3, the country’s drug regulatory authority had approved the above vaccines for emergency restricted use. Covaxin is developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) while the Serum Institute of India (SII) has developed Covishield.

Chouhan said that both the vaccines would help build immunity and antibodies against Covid-19 but pointed out that the antibodies would not develop immediately after the vaccination. “The second dose will be administered 28 days after the first dose and 14 days after it the antibodies will develop. Two doses are necessary,” the MP chief minister was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Also Read| All you need to know about SII vaccine 'Covishield'| 10 points

Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday had received the first consignment of nearly 94,000 Covishiled doses. The supplies arrived at Bhopal’s Raja Bhoj Airport in a scheduled flight from Mumbai, an official of the public relations department told news agency PTI. “These doses would be dispatched to eight districts from Bhopal under the supervision of officials,” he added. Authorities would administer doses to nearly 500,000 healthcare and frontline workers in the first phase of the pan-India vaccination drive that would begin from January 16.

Madhya Pradesh’s coronavirus tally crossed the 250,000-mark on Wednesday after 456 fresh cases and six more deaths were reported. The death toll has climbed 3,732 while nearly 239,000 people have recovered so far. As many as 24,280 Covid-19 tests were conducted on Wednesday which pushed the total testing figures to more than 4.9 million.

Meanwhile, the Union health ministry said on Wednesday that the initial procurement of Covaxin and Covishield had been allocated to all the states and Union Territories (UTs). “Full initial procurement amount of 1.65 cr doses of #Covishield & #Covaxin vaccines have been allocated to all States/UTs in proportion of Health Care Workers database,” the ministry had tweeted.

It also said that there had been no bias in distributing the two vaccines to all states and UTs adding that the doses were allocated on the basis of the priority list. This clarification of the Union health ministry came after Maharashtra's health minister Rajesh Tope alleged that the state received less vaccines. “The state has received only 9.63 vials of Covishield vaccine from the Serum Institute of India and “merely” 20,000 vials from the Bharat Biotech of its indigenously-made vaccine,” Tope had said.