India gives its best shot against Covid
VACCINATION DRIVE LAUNCHED BUT A THIRD OF THOSE SELECTED OPT OUT
INDIA this week stepped up efforts to bolster trust in coronavirus vaccines after it was revealed that nearly a third of those invited to get jabs at the launch of a nationwide drive failed to turn up.
The government began one of the world’s most ambitious vaccine programmes, aiming to inoculate 300 million of the 1.3 billion population by July. Authorities have given emergency-use approval for two jabs – Covishield, a version of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, and the Indian-made Covaxin, which has yet to complete its phase 3 trials.
Frontline workers such as hospital staff, people over 50 and those deemed to be at high risk due to pre-existing medical conditions are on the shortlist to receive the vaccines.
In the first three days of the drive, which started last Saturday (16), the government said 381,305 vaccinations were carried out. In the capital New Delhi, only 53 per cent of people came forward for jabs, a health official said. “These are initial days and we understand people are waiting to see how the procedure pans out and how other vaccines fare,” said Suneela Garg, a member of the coronavirus task force for the capital.
“These numbers will go up as confidence is strengthened. And for that, we have to tackle misinformation.”
The Hindu newspaper reported that in southern Tamil Nadu state, the turnout was only 16 per cent.
At a community health centre in Rohtak district in the northern state of Haryana, only 29 out of 100 people expected showed up, a doctor there said. “People are very scared. We can’t force anyone to take the vaccine, it is voluntary,” said the doctor, speaking on condition of anonymity.
With public doubt about the drugs spreading on social media, health minister Harsh Vardhan changed his Twitter profile header to say “VACCINES WORK”.
“From the very beginning, we have warned people not to be worried about this misinformation that is being spread,” Vardhan told media.
“This vaccine will indeed be a sanjeevani (life saver)” in the fight against the virus, he added.
The government has advised local authorities to limit inoculations to four days a week so as to reduce disruptions to routine health services.
India has the world’s second-largest number of coronavirus cases, almost 10.5 million.
It has so far approved two vaccines for use, one of which is yet to complete its clinical trials.
The government confirmed late on Monday (18) that two post-vaccination deaths have been reported.
One was a 52-year-old man who the health ministry said died last Saturday in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh from “cardiopulmonary disease” and not the jab.
A post-mortem was being conducted on a 43-year-old man in Karnataka state who suffered a heart attack. The government said that over the first three days of vaccinations 580 people had reported adverse symptoms.
Leading scientists and doctors have called on authorities to release efficacy data about Covaxin to boost confidence about the vaccine.
Covaxin recipients last Saturday had to sign a consent form that stated that the vaccine’s “clinical efficacy... is yet to be established”.
A doctors’ representative body at the Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in New Delhi wrote a letter asking for the Covishield vaccine to be supplied instead of Covaxin.
“The residents are a bit apprehensive about the lack of complete trial in case of Covaxin and might not participate in huge numbers thus defeating the purpose of vaccination,” said the letter addressing the hospital’s medical superintendent, which was seen by AFP.