ERam Verma, a sanitation worker, who was brought together from Holy Family Hospital in New Delhi, sighed deeply at relief. As one of the first in India to receive a coronavirus vaccine on Saturday – which was the start of the world’s largest vaccination program – he felt a little apprehensive.
“I have to admit I was nervous,” said Verma, who received his Covaxin sting in a center in the hospital’s parking lot. “A lot of us were. I thought I might faint or have side effects. After all, this is something completely new. But I’m going well. There is nothing to worry about. ”
Anila Singh, a nurse at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in the capital, said she was almost crying with relief when she heard that she should be one of the first to receive the vaccine. “I thought of everyone I saw dying, all the families who lost someone they loved, and my own daily fear of catching the virus, it went back down,” she said. “Finally we’re going to turn the pages.”
Across India, 3,006 vaccination centers began the huge task of vaccinating 300 million people in August, with health workers, police and army members enjoying first priority. India ranks second in the world for Covid-19 cases, with more than 10.5 million cases and more than 151,000 deaths.
Two vaccines have been approved for India’s immunization program: the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine, known in India as Covishield, and Covaxin, a domestic product developed by the Indian pharmaceutical company Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council for medical research, a government body.
Although it was a slow start on Saturday, there was pressure to increase the pace. Within a week, Mumbai plans to vaccinate 50,000 people daily, while the figure is even more ambitious in Delhi. “Once we have 1,000 vaccination centers in the city, we will vaccinate 100,000 every day,” said Dr Suneela Garg, who heads Delhi’s vaccination task.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the start of the vaccination program as a moment of pride for India, saying it “shows the world that we are capable”. Yet there was a shadow hanging over the proceedings as doctors, health advocates and scientists questioned the adequacy and safety of Covaxin and accused the government of protocol to approve it.
The vaccine has not completed Phase 3 human trials, and there is no conclusive final data on its efficacy, which puts India under Russia and China, which have also decided to release a vaccine that is still in the trial phase. feed. The government said Covaxin was ‘100% safe’ and on Saturday 5.5 million doses of it were sent across the country, although it would be given in ‘trial mode’.
The resident medical association of the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital wrote a letter to the superintendent of the hospital on Saturday in which they expressed concern about Covaxin and requested that they may have Covishield instead.
Dr Nirmalya Mohapatra, a senior resident doctor and vice president of the association, said: ‘There is a lot of concern because we do not have the same data for Covaxin. We are healthcare professionals and we are concerned that Covaxin may not protect us against another wave of infection as it is still being tested. So we just ask to get a choice on what vaccine we get. ‘
Mohapatra said that, without being offered a choice, it could lead to the refusal to take the vaccine among doctors. On Saturday at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, only 31 of the 100 health workers enrolled to be given the vaccine, partly due to a technical problem, but also attributed to the concern among staff that the hospital only offers Covaxin.
Bharat Biotech is also accused of ethical violations for allegedly testing Covaxin on people in the slums of Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh without them being aware that it was a trial. Seven people claimed to have received a vaccine that would protect them from the virus, and to have paid 750 rupees, unaware that it was an untested vaccine or that they might have been given a placebo. has.
In a letter to the government, several health rights organizations, including the All India Drug Action Network, the Forum for Medical Ethics Society and the People’s Health Movement India, demanded that the trial on Covaxin in Bhopal be stopped. “The evidence shows incitement which constitutes a violation of the principle of voluntary participation without encouragement or coercion,” they said. “Many participants were misled into entering the trial, and their vulnerabilities were claimed in advance.”
Bharat Biotech denies any ethical violations and says the experiment fully complies with ‘good clinical practice guidelines and all regulatory provisions applicable to clinical trials in India’.
The questions about Covaxin also did not help in the desperate efforts of the government to counter false information and false rumors about the vaccines spread on WhatsApp, and to provoke hesitation. Delhi Prime Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday called on people to be vigilant against misinformation against vaccines.
At the Spinal Injuries Center in New Delhi, dr. Kali Datta Das, a surgeon, said some false rumors on WhatsApp about the vaccine caused one last jolt of anxiety on Saturday. However, he remained upbeat. “We vaccinated 100 people today and it was a very positive mood because people felt that there was finally a solution for Covid-19 in sight,” Das said.