Govt says Indian vaccines are one of the safest in the world

NEW DELHI: The Government of India, on Tuesday, January 19, said that India’s vaccines are one of the safest in the world. The Central government tried to address vaccine hesitancy among the people and reports of adverse events following immunisation (AEFI). V K Paul, NITI Aayog member, said that number of AEFI has been as low as 0.18 per cent and only 0.002 per cent people required hospitalisation post immunisation.

Paul said that our data shows that Indian vaccines are absolutely safe and the concerns regarding the adverse effects and health problems seem to be negligible and insignificant. Rajesh Bhushan, Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, denied the concerns of vaccine hesitancy and said that it exists in all the countries and it has nothing to do with particularly COVID-19 vaccines. He added that the intensity would be high as the disease is new but it has been seen earlier also in various disease such as measles, mumps, polio and rubella. Nine states, including Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh have reported over 70 per cent coverage since the start of the vaccination drive. Other better performing states and union territories include Lakshadweep (89.3 per cent), Sikkim (85.7 per cent), Odisha (82.6 per cent), Telangana (81.1 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (71.4 per cent) and Rajasthan (71.3 per cent), Bhushan said.