Don’t try to discredit well laid out protocols: Harsh Vardhan

New Delhi: Union health minister Harsh Vardhan on Sunday lashed out at Congress and SP for politicising approval of the indigenously developed Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin of Bharat Biotech.

“Disgraceful for anyone to politicise such a critical issue… Don’t try to discredit well laid-out science-backed protocols followed by approving,” Harsh Vardhan said. “Wake up and realise you are only discrediting yourselves!”

He further said: “Covaxin is more likely to work against newer variants like N501Y variant (UK variant) and any other that may arise due to antigenic drift as it contains immunogens (epitopes) from other genes in addition to those from spike protein.”


Defending the approval for the vaccine, Vardhan claimed only 7% of participants in the trials receiving six microgram dose had mild symptoms. “No serious adverse events were seen,” he said, putting out detailed technical explanations on approval given to Covaxin. “There were no seroconversions in those who were provided vaccines in Phase II as well as Phase I of Covaxin clinical trials.” Seroconversion means a person turning sero positive from sero negative or in other terms contracting Covid after being administered the vaccine.