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Today's Paper | March 15, 2026

Published 11 Feb, 2021 08:50pm

Indian state rejects Bharat Biotech vaccine approved without efficacy data

Chhattisgarh, an opposition-ruled Indian state, has said it had asked the government to halt the supply of a homegrown Covid-19 vaccine until its efficacy could be proven in an ongoing late-stage trial, Reuters reported.

“There’s an inhibition/concern among the community in general regarding the use of Covaxin,” state health minister TS Singh Deo wrote in a letter to his federal counterpart, Harsh Vardhan, and shared on Twitter.

Singh Deo said that Covaxin vials do not display any expiry date and that he had requested Vardhan to halt its supply to Chhattisgarh “until these issues are addressed to the satisfaction of our health department to avoid the wastage of the early expiration doses of the drug”.

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