Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij said that he did not violate any protocols after testing positive for COVID-19.
After a news report alleged that he kept meeting people even after testing positive, Vij took to Twitter on 6 December to refute the report.
He tweeted saying, “The report that claims I was meeting people after testing positive is totally false. Just half and hour after testing positive, I was admitted to Civil Hospital, in Ambala.”
The Haryana minister tested positive for the highly infectious virus on 5 December Saturday, two weeks after receiving the “first dose” of Covaxin, India’s indigenous vaccine being developed by Hyderabad-based pharama Bharat Biotech.
On 20 November, Vij had taken part in the phase three trial of Covaxin, at the Civil Hospital at Ambala Cantonment. Vij said on Twitter that he had volunteered himself for the trial.
After he tested positive Bharat Biotech also put out a statement saying this vaccine requires a second dose 28 days after the first to be able to provide full protection.
It is also not clear whether he was given a vaccine or a placebo, owing to the fact that such trials are ‘blind’.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)