0.03% contracted Covid-19 after receiving second jab of Covishield; 0.04% post Covaxin

The Indian government on Wednesday said 0.03 per cent of people tested positive for coronavirus after taking the second dose of Covishield, while 0.04 per cent contracted the virus after receiving the second jab of Covaxin.

Covishield and Covaxin were the first coronavirus vaccines that New Delhi approved to begin its nationwide vaccination drive.

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While Covishield is AstraZeneca-Oxford University' vaccine prepared by Serum Institute of India, Covaxin has been prepared by India's ICMR and Bharat Biotech.

ICMR Director General Balram Bhargava in a press conference said 0.04 per cent of 17,37,178 individuals, contracted the deadly virus after receiving the second dose of Covaxin.

He added that 0.03 per cent of 1,57,32,754 people who received the second dose of Covishield tested positive.

Over 21,000 people contracted coronavirus after taking the first jab of either Covishield or Covaxin, while 5,500 got infected after taking the second dose.

The official said that so far 100 million people have taken the first jab of Covishield, and 17,145 or 2 per 10,000 people contracted the virus.

As many as 9.3 million people took the first jab of Covaxin and out of that 4,208 (0.04 per cent) contracted Covid-19, the ICMR director-general said.

"This is a very small number and not at all worrisome. Secondly, the highly transmissible second wave also contribute minuscule to the percentage so this could have been even zero per cent," Bhargava said.