Hours after Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij announced that he tested positive for COVID-19, the Union Ministry of Health said that Covaxin is a two-dose medicine and Vij has only got the first shot. The Haryana Health Minister had taken part in the trials of Bharat BioTech’s coronavirus vaccine. 

Earlier on Saturday, Vij said he tested positive for coronavirus and has been admitted to Civil hospital Ambala Cantt.

“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 Union Health Ministry said, reported PTI. 

The Haryana Health Minister, who had offered to be the first volunteer in the phase three trials for Covaxin, also said that antibodies against coronavirus start to develop after the second dose of the vaccine is given, 28 days after the first shot.

He told PTI, “I was told that antibodies start to develop after the second dose, which is administered after 28 days of getting the first shot. And full antibodies are developed 14 days after the second dose is given. So, the complete cycle takes 42 days. In between, there is no protection.”

Vij was given the first shot of Covaxin, which is being developed in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), on November 20.