There has been a lot of talk about the safety of Covishield vaccine. Some people say that the vaccine causes illness and is not safe, while others say it is safe. So what's true?
No, the RT-PCR test result after a vaccine dose of Covisheild is not positive. The RT-PCR test detects the presence of viral RNA and hence is positive after any illness or live vaccine. The clinical trials carried out on Covishield by the Serum Institute of India have shown that there is no replication after the first dose, but residual viral RNA may be present in most cases.
The RT-PCR test detects the presence of viral RNA and hence is positive after any illness or live vaccine. This means that you can get a false positive result with a normally harmless virus, which will not make you ill. This is why it’s important to have your clinical symptoms and a thorough physical examination performed before deciding on treatment.
The “positive” result from the PCR test should be confirmed by another laboratory method called antigen detection assay (ELISA).
The clinical trials carried out on Covishield by the Serum Institute of India have shown that there is no replication after the first dose, but residual viral RNA may be present in most cases. This residual viral RNA is not infectious and should not cause concern as we know there is no risk of re-infection with another vaccine.
The unique structure of the vaccine can be identified by DNA analysis.
If you’re concerned about your dog’s health, we recommend having a sample tested by a veterinarian to be certain. DNA analysis will confirm the vaccine origin which is easy to distinguish due to its unique structure.
DNA analysis is not required after every case, but it can be useful if your pet becomes ill or shows symptoms of distemper after vaccination.
Do not panic if an antigen-detected case is positive for RT-PCR after vaccination from Covishield. An RT-PCR test is not a diagnostic test and can be used to detect the presence of viral RNA in any body fluid (blood, semen, saliva or urine).
RT-PCR test is positive after any illness or live vaccine. It is important to note that despite the fact that an RT-PCR result may return positive days or weeks after vaccination with Covisheild, this does not mean that you caught anything! The fact that the result has come back positive only indicates that there was enough of a virus present in your body at some point for the test to detect it - regardless of whether this was before or after vaccination with Covisheild.
"Vaccination status of patients who test positive for COVID-19 should not be used for treatment purpose," the ministry said. "Discharge summary/report/certificate should clearly mention that the patient testing positive is on vaccine and there is no need to treat them differently. The results of a single RT-PCR test should not be used to make clinical decisions such as whether or not to admit a patient into an intensive care unit or other specialised unit."
If you test positive for MERS-CoV by RT-PCR after having been vaccinated, this does not mean that the vaccine has failed or is ineffective. It simply means that it takes time for your body to produce antibodies against the virus and that the vaccinations don't protect against all strains of the virus.
This also means that even after taking two shots of Covishield, if you test positive on your RT-PCR test, you will have to self isolate at home during treatment until you are confirmed as having no more symptoms of MERS-CoV infection (1 week after completing your course of treatment).
Do not panic if an antigen-detected case is positive for RT-PCR after vaccination from Covishield. This is a perfectly normal finding.