As Covid-19 vaccine set to be cleared for use, doctors’ body appeals to people not to rush

Those below 18 have to wait till small trials are done in populations below 18. Similarly, pregnant women have to wait, it said in a statement

With SII’s Covishield vaccine set to be cleared for emergency use, the Organised Medicine Academic Guild (OMAG) has appealed to people not to rush and cooperate with government and civic authorities.

The vaccine will be available only for adults and non-pregnant women, OMAG President Dr S Natarajan and secretary general Dr Ishwar Gilada said, adding that the vaccination programme may consume more by 2021.

“Those below 18 have to wait till small trials are done in populations below 18. Similarly, pregnant women have to wait,” they said in a statement.

OMAG also appealed to those who have already suffered from Covid-19 infection – symptomatic or asymptomatic – to wait. “You do not need the vaccine right now. You may not need it for several months from now. People should get their Covid antibody tests done. If positive for IgG, please wait,” said Dr Gilada.

Drawing parallels with the polio vaccine, he said: “It's just impossible to vaccinate all. We could give the polio vaccine to 90% of the children as it is an oral vaccine and could be done by the Anganwadi and ASHA workers, and that too it took several years. This is different.”

On the issue of the population that would be covered, he said: “It all depends on the efficacy of the vaccine. We need to vaccinate at least 70% of the population, given the 70% success rate of the Oxford Astra-Zeneca vaccine and considering an additional 10% have already been infected and developed antibodies. If the efficacy of the vaccine is 90% and if you can vaccinate 60% of the population, it might help.”

Other vaccines in the pipeline for the DCGI nod -- CoVaxin of Bharat Biotech, Pfizer’s mRANA, Russia's Sputnik V with Dr. Reddy's Laboratories and Zydus-Cadila’s ZyCov-D -- are in different stages of trial or have applied for Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA).