JOIN USHealthcare workers compelled to take Covaxin
On the first day of vaccination in India, a homegrown Covid-19 vaccine that lacks efficacy data, was administered to a smaller section of healthcare workers at government hospitals all over the country overlooking the concerns shared by many doctors.
Eleven states including Karnataka received the Bharat Biotech manufactured Covaxin that was given to top doctors like NITI Ayog member Vinod Paul and AIIMS, Delhi director Randeep Guleria. But even such profile endorsements fail to mask the concerns shared by the doctors all over the country as they were compelled to receive a vaccine that is yet to prove its efficacy.
"Covaxin manufactured by Bharat Biotech is being preferred over Covishield manufactured by Serum Institute in our hospital. We would like to bring to your notice that the residents are a bit apprehensive about the lack of complete trial in the case of Covaxin and might not participate in huge numbers thus defeating the purpose of the vaccination," the Resident Doctors Association of the Ram Manohar Lohia hospital in Delhi said in a letter to the Medical Superintendent of the central Delhi hospital.
"We request you to vaccinate us with Covishield which has completed all stages of the trial before its rollout," the letter said.
Six government hospitals in Delhi – AIIMS, Safderjung, RML, Kalawati Saran Children’s Hospital and two ESI units – received the Covaxin while 75 other hospitals received the Serum Institute’s Covishield.
"But we had to take Covaxin. There was no choice,” Nirmalaya Mohapatra, Vice-President of the hospital's Resident Doctors Association, told DH.
In Tamil Nadu, Covaxin was used in six government hospitals. Of the 2,684 people vaccinated in Tamil Nadu, 99 got Covaxin. Among those who chose Covaxin are deans of government medical colleges and doctors.
A top government official told DH that there were challenges to convince people on the Covaxin. "Since all know that Covaxin is still on Phase-III trials, there is a general hesitancy among healthcare workers to take the vaccine,”the official said.
In Maharashtra, six government hospitals are giving Covaxin shots. About 20,000 doses have been distributed to Sir JJ Hospital in Mumbai, Government Medical Colleges in Solapur, Nagpur, Aurangabad and district hospitals in Amravati and Pune.
“We are giving both the Covid-19 vaccines in Maharashtra,” said Rajesh Tope, Maharashtra’s public health and family welfare minister.
A statement issued by Assam health department said till 5 pm, as many as 3,528 healthcare persons were provided the vaccines in 65 centres of which 320 received Covaxin in Sonitpur and Barpeta districts. The official statement admitted that some medical professionals were reluctant to take Covaxin but were later convinced.
Bihar too received 20,000 doses of Covaxin for the first phase of the vaccination. "A person can't pick and choose between Covishield and Covaxin. Both vaccines have been tested and are safe,” said Bihar’s Health Minister Mangal Pandey.
With inputs from ETB Sivapriyan, Mrityunjay Bose, Sumir Karmakar and Abhay Kumar
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