Covid-19 Positive Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij Shifted To PGIMS Rohtak

Vij, who had last month got one shot of the two-dose trial of the Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin after he offered to be a volunteer, had on December 5 tested positive for the coronavirus.

The 67-year-old BJP leader had offered to be the first volunteer in the phase three trials for Covaxin, an indigenous potential vaccine being developed by Bharat Biotech against Covid-19.

He was administered the dose on November 20 at the Civil Hospital in Ambala Cantonment, about 50 km from Chandigarh.

Also Read: Weeks After Participating In Bharat Biotech Covaxin Trial, Haryana Health Minsiter Turns COVID Positive, Co Issues Clarification

Bharat Biotech had said that clinical trials of the vaccine are based on a two-dose schedule, given 28 days apart. The vaccine efficacy will be determined two weeks after the second dose, it said.

COVAXIN has been designed to be protective 2 weeks after volunteers receive the 2nd dose.

The Union Health Ministry had also stepped in to say that Covaxin is a two-dose anti-coronavirus vaccine and that Vij was given only the first dose a fortnight before he tested positive.

"The antibodies against the infection build up in a human being only after a specific number of days pass after the second dose of the vaccine is taken. This is a two-dose vaccine. The minister in question has taken only one dose of the vaccine," the ministry had said in a statement.

Vij had earlier said he had gone to Panipat a few days ago where he spent two-three hours with a BJP leader, who too had tested positive for Covid-19.