The Indian government said Bharat Biotech's Covaxin and Serum Institute of India produced Covishield cannot be compared with each other, scientifically, to choose one over another.

"There is no direct scientific comparison between the two available vaccines. So one can not choose one over the other. Both the vaccines work well in preventing the infection as well as in preventing severe illness. You can choose any of these, subject to the availability at your vaccine centre," the government said.

A total of 26 potential cases of bleeding and clotting surfaced after the administration of Covishield, which is minuscule.

Since January, 23,000 adverse events have been reported, after the administration of both Covishield and Covaxin, of which 700 were critical, while India's cumulative vaccination coverage is over 187 million.

From the price aspect , Covishield - the Indian brand name of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine - comes cheaper than Covaxin.

Also, Covishield offers longer protection, allowing the government to extend the gap between the two doses of the vaccine to 84 days.

However, Covaxin doses must be administered within the existing gap of 28 days, IBNS said. 

The composition of Covishield and Covaxin is different. Covishield is made from a weakened version of a common cold virus that infects chimpanzees.
It also consists of the genetic material of the SARS-CoV-2 virus spike protein.

On the other hand, Covaxin has been created from live inactive virus.

(SAM)