Study finds that majority of Indians experience mild or no side effects post COVID-19 vax

Majority of Indians experienced no or only mild side effects after taking two doses of COVID-19 vaccines Covishield and Covaxin, a survey conducted across the country said.

A massive COVID-19 vaccination drive was launched in India on January 16, with two vaccines -- Covishield, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, and Covaxin, manufactured by Bharat Biotech. Community social media platform LocalCircles said that according to its nationwide survey, "70 per cent of Indians after taking the first dose of Covishield and 64 per cent with Covaxin experienced no or mild side effects. "Similarly, 75 per cent inoculated with the second dose of Covishield and 78 per cent with the second dose of Covaxin experienced no or mild side effects, it added. However, 30 per cent of those who were given the first dose of Covishield experienced side effects. Out of this, 29 per cent experienced fever and 1 per cent reported getting COVID infection, the survey said. Thirty per cent of those who took the first dose of Covaxin experienced fever while 1 per cent reported having a more serious condition than fever, and no one reported having a post vaccine COVID infection, it added. After having the second dose of Covishield, 20 per cent experienced fever, 4 per cent reported getting post vaccine 'COVID infection' and 1 per cent reported having a more serious condition than fever, the survey said. After getting inoculated with the second dose of Covaxin, 17 per cent experienced fever, 2 per cent reported getting post vaccine 'COVID infection' while 3 per cent reported having a more serious condition than fever, it added. "The survey received more than 40,000 responses from citizens residing in 381 districts of India. 62 per cent respondents were men while 38 per cent respondents were women," LocalCircles said.

Forty-four per cent respondents were from tier 1, 31 per cent were from tier 2, and 25 per cent respondents were from tier 3, 4 and rural districts, it added. According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, India's COVID-19 vaccination coverage has surpassed the cumulative figure of 59.55 crore as per provisional reports till 7am on Wednesday.