New Delhi:
The 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 percent of Indians after taking the first dose of Covishield and 64 percent with Covaxin experienced no or mild side effects.''
Similarly, 75 percent inoculated with the second dose of Covishield and 78 percent with the second dose of Covaxin experienced no or mild side effects, it added.
However, 30 percent of those who were given the first dose of Covishield experienced side effects. Out of this, 29 percent experienced fever and 1 percent reported getting COVID infection, the survey said.
Thirty percent of those who took the first dose of Covaxin experienced fever while 1 percent 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 percent experienced fever, 4 percent reported getting post-vaccine 'COVID infection' and 1 percent reported having a more serious condition than fever, the survey said.
After getting inoculated with the second dose of Covaxin, 17 percent experienced fever, 2 percent reported getting post-vaccine 'COVID infection' while 3 percent reported having a more serious condition than fever, added.
''The survey received more than 40,000 responses from citizens residing in 381 districts of India. 62 percent respondents were men while 38 percent respondents were women,'' LocalCircles said.
Forty-four percent of respondents were from tier 1, 31 percent were from tier 2, and 25 percent of 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 crores as per provisional reports till 7 am on Wednesday.