The Union Health Ministry on Tuesday said that a nasal vaccine candidate has been identified and it could be a "game-changer". The ministry also called upon people to end vaccine hesitancy as India was in a comfortable situation, assuring that both the vaccines against COVID-19 were safe.
"A nasal vaccine has been identified. It has come for consideration for phase 1 and phase 2 trials. If it works then it could be a game-changer," Dr. VK Paul, NITI Aayog member said at a press briefing on Tuesday.
A health ministry official said that the concerns about adverse effects and serious problems, as of now, seem to be insignificant. "Data shows that we are in a comfortable situation and we would like to reassure you that the two COVID-19 vaccines are safe. We would like to reassure with the data we have seen that the two vaccines are safe. The vaccine hesitancy should end. How will we defeat the pandemic then," he asked.
So far, 4,54,049 people have been vaccinated so far, the official said. "Only 0.18 percent adverse events happened following immunization and 0.002 percent of people were hospitalized following immunization. These are fairly low and the lowest so far in the world in the first three days," he said.
The official informed that active cases were around 2 lakhs after seven months and that the number is declining. The daily number of deaths less than 140 after eight months, the official said. Only the states of Kerala and Maharashtra have more than 50,000 active cases, he added.
READ MORE: India's vaccination drive: 3,81,305 jabbed; 2 post-vaccination deaths in UP, Karnataka | Key Points
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