Bhubaneswar: Amid concerns of rare side effect known as Thrombosis Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (TTS) of Covid 19 vaccine Covishield, Odisha Family Welfare director Bijay Kumar Panigrahy has clarified that there is no risk of rare side effect of the vaccine in Odisha as the immunisation period has crossed three years.
“Usually, the adverse impact appears within two to 20 weeks after the vaccination. It has been three years since the beginning of the first immunisation programme. So, there is no apprehension of side effect of the Covishield jab. People need not get worried and panicked over the news. They should feel happy that they got rid of covid infection after receiving the Civishiled shot,” Panigrahy said.
The vaccination for Covid 19 had started on January 16, 2021 and the last immunisation programme was in February 2023 in the State. During this period, total 8.15 crore shots had been given which include 6.42 crore Covishield doses and 1.31 crore Covaxin, he added.
The government of India had in May 2021 informed the State that adverse impact of the vaccine would be very minimal which would be 0.6 per 1 million doses. So, accordingly, the State government had issued a SoP for the health care provider and the beneficiaries, he added.
“We had appealed to the people to report us if they experience any such symptom. We had received no TTS syndrome so far from the people who were administered Covishield dose. So, there is no TTs (Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome) symptom in our state,” Panigrahi informed.
Recently, pharmaceutical major AstraZeneca which developed the vaccine in partnership with the University of Oxford, had admitted in a court in UK that Covishield could cause a rare side effect known as Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (TTS).
