Mumbai: Covaxin or Covishield? Pick your safe shot

With Covaxin granted the regular restricted emergency use authorisation just like Covishield manufactured by the Pune-based Serum Institute – and therefore the same licensure status – potential beneficiaries can exercise their choice of being inoculated with either of the two vaccines

With Covaxin granted the regular restricted emergency use authorisation just like Covishield manufactured by the Pune-based Serum Institute – and therefore the same licensure status – potential beneficiaries can exercise their choice of being inoculated with either of the two vaccines.

Senior citizens line up at a vaccination centre at Manpada. (Praful Gangurde / HT)

Three days after the Centre removed the “clinical trial mode” tag against Covaxin, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) gave the nod to its five vaccination centres to administer Bharat Biotech’s indigenously developed vaccine, starting Monday.

The civic body will provide Covaxin vials at SevenHills hospital and jumbo centres at BKC, NESCO, Dahisar and Mulund, following which BYL Nair and Dr RN Cooper hospitals will be added to the list next week.

Till Sunday (March 14), Covaxin jabs were given only at the government-run JJ hospital at Byculla, which was also the sole Phase III clinical trial site in Mumbai.

On March 4, makers of Covaxin said preliminary results showed the first coronavirus vaccine developed in India has an efficacy rate of 81% in phase III of clinical trials.

The civic body received 63,000 doses of Covaxin from the central government on Saturday.

“Walk-in beneficiaries, during registration, will be given a choice across the table. After two-three days, the centralised Co-WIN site will also add the option to choose between the two vaccines. So, while registering online, people can choose their preferred vaccine,” said Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner, BMC.

Covaxin is one of the two vaccines which has been used as part of the nationwide mass immunisation programme that was rolled out on January 16, starting with healthcare and frontline workers.

The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) approved its emergency use in clinical trial mode.

Covaxin uses an inactivated virus paired with an adjuvant – a chemical that boosts immune response.

When administered, immune cells recognise the dead virus which prompts the immune system in the body to make antibodies against the virus.

Dr Rajesh Dere, in-charge of BKC jumbo centre, said, “Unlike earlier, Covaxin beneficiaries will not have to sign a consent letter to take the vials. Earlier, people had to give their approval as it was under clinical trial.”