A nurse will administer an injection of the Covishield vaccine in Mumbai on January 16.
Photographer: Dhiraj Singh / Bloomberg
Photographer: Dhiraj Singh / Bloomberg
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Most of the world is struggling to get enough vaccines to inoculate their population. India has the opposite problem: many photos, but a shortage of people to take them.
While India is one of the The world’s largest vaccination programs have hesitated some health and other frontline workers over concerns about the safety of a vaccine that has yet to complete phase III trials. As of Monday, only about 56% of people eligible for the shot have emerged in a country with the world’s second worst Covid-19 outbreak.
Unless the vaccination rate increases significantly, India will fall far short of its target of vaccinating 300 million people – or about a quarter of the population – by July. That will counteract global efforts to contain and numb the virus optimism that a recovery will take root in an economy that is greatest annual shrinkage in records dating back to 1952.
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“At least 40% of doctors here are insecure and want to wait,” said Vinod Kumar, a general practitioner at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences of Patna, in the eastern state of Bihar. “Running a vaccination trial with us while India has a shortage of doctors makes no sense to health workers.”
While the hesitation of the vaccine has popped up in places like Japan and Brazil, and the Chinese candidates were also faced with questions compared to data, the magnitude of the problem is by far the greatest in India. The biggest problems facing places like the US and Europe are mostly due to scarce supplies rather than acceptance of vaccines, and some countries are turning to New Delhi for help: India says it can do 500 million shots a month produce for export, and countries such as the UK, Belgium and Saudi Arabia have tried to buy them.
Covishield production at a Serum Institute facility in Pune, Maharashtra, January 22.
Photographer: Dhiraj Singh / Bloomberg
India’s domestic vaccine program manages one of two shots: the AstraZeneca Plc vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India Ltd., or the Covaxin shot developed by Bharat Biotech International Ltd., a privately held company based in Hyderabad. India’s approval of the Bharat Biotech shot, which was developed with government-backed research groups, has been widely criticized by scientists for lack of complete data.
“Many in our institute are uncomfortable with Covaxin because we don’t know how effective it is,” said Adarsh Pratap Singh, a member of the Resident Doctors Association of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi. “To build trust among the people, the government needs to come out with the data and evidence of the trials, and encourage free and fair discussion.”
Both the company and the government have defended the shot. Krishna Ella, the chairman of Bharat Biotech, said earlier this month that the company had conducted “200% fair clinical trials” and had a track record of producing 16 safe and effective vaccines. “Indian scientists want to bash on other Indian scientists,” he said said as he rejected criticism in a virtual press conference Jan. 4. A spokesperson for Bharat Biotech did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The government has since urged health workers to get vaccinated. Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has sent tweets pleading “#CoronaWarriors” take the shot, while dispelling rumors that the vaccine could cause infertility. A spokesperson for the federal health department was not immediately available to comment.
Harsh Vardhan holds a bottle of Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin on January 16.
Photographer: Anindito Mukherjee / Bloomberg
“Vaccine hesitation among health workers should end – I am pleading on behalf of the government for it to be passed, as no one knows how this pandemic will take shape in the future,” said VK Paul, a member of the Niti planning body. Aayog, noting that he took the Covaxin injection without any ill effects.
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“These two vaccines are safe,” he said. “We have a system to track it and if there is an unusual signal, it responds as it should.”
The initial concern and doubt at the start of the vaccine rollout is normal, said Preeti Sudan, former secretary in the federal ministry of health and family welfare. India was successful in its polio immunization program, she noted, after launching a large-scale campaign involving children, mothers and opinion leaders to allay fears about vaccines.
Low vaccination coverage
On Monday, India distributed about 2 million recordings across the country. In Madhya Pradesh, the largest state in central India, about 75% of people enrolled came for vaccination on January 21, while the rate was much lower in Bihar two days later, at 51.6%. According to state government data, about 55% of eligible persons were vaccinated in Rajasthan and 54% in the southern state of Tamil Nadu on January 19.
While the hesitation concerns both vaccines, people are most wary of Covaxin from Bharat Biotech. In Tamil Nadu, for example, only 23.5% of those assigned Covaxin received the injections on Jan. 19, compared to 56% for Covishield from the Serum Institute, the data shows.
Nirmalya Mohapatra, a doctor at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in New Delhi, plans to “wait and see” for clarification before being inoculated with Bharat Biotech’s shot. If given a choice now, he would choose Covishield, as its efficacy data was reviewed by leading medical journals.
“Covaxin could prove to be a better vaccine in the future,” said Mohapatra, who is also vice president of the local doctors’ association at the hospital. “But for now, there is some concern about the lack of a full trial.”