One in 1,400 show vaccine side-effects

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, February 9

Only one in 1,400 Covid vaccine beneficiaries in India have so far reported mild side effects such as pain or rash since the inoculation drive began on January 16.

Out of 63, 10, 194 healthcare and frontline workers vaccinated till 2 pm today, 4,303 had mild adverse events following immunisation (AEFI). This means 1 in 1,400 beneficiaries had any side effect.

“Indian AEFI rate is only 0.07 per cent. This means Covishield and Covaxin are superbly safe. The fact that over 6.3 million people have accepted the vaccines shows we have overcome the challenge of vaccine hesitancy,” Member Health, NITI Aayog VK Paul said today noting that India was on course to cross one crore vaccinations in a few days.

The government has asked every state to schedule each healthcare worker and frontline worker once for vaccination before February 20 and March 1, respectively, and hold mop-up rounds for them by February 24 and March 6, respectively. Those who miss mop-up rounds would be covered later in age appropriate listing, Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said.