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India’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign got off to a successful start with more than 190,000 people taking their first hits and no one being hospitalized for major side effects.
Residents hold a man while a healthcare worker takes a swab sample for COVID-19 coronavirus at a community gym center on the outskirts of Hyderabad, India, on October 8, 2020. Image: AFP.
NEW DELHI – India’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign got off to a successful start with more than 190,000 people receiving their first injections and no one hospitalized for major side effects, the Health Ministry said, but reports emerged of concerns about the vaccine homegrown.
Authorities have approved the emergency use of two vaccines: Oxford-AstraZeneca and homegrown “Covaxin,” which has yet to complete its phase 3 trials, and plans to immunize some 300 million people in the country of 1.3 billion. for July.
Frontline workers, such as hospital staff, people over the age of 50, and those considered to be at high risk due to pre-existing medical conditions, are on the short list to get vaccinated.
“We got encouraging and satisfactory feedback results on the first day,” Health Minister Harsh Vardhan told his state counterparts on Saturday.
“This vaccine will indeed be a ‘Sanjeevani’ (lifesaver)” in the fight against the virus, he added.
The Health Ministry said that “no cases of post-vaccination hospitalization had been reported,” although local media said a security guard at the country’s top-ranked public hospital, the Indian Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi, she had developed an allergy reaction shortly after receiving her injection.
A representative body of physicians at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in New Delhi wrote a letter requesting that the Oxford-AstraZeneca “Covishield” vaccine be given instead of Covaxin to allay any fears.
“Residents are somewhat concerned about the lack of a full trial in the Covaxin case and may not be participating in large numbers, thus defeating the purpose of vaccination,” said the letter addressed to the hospital’s medical superintendent, seen by AFP.
“We ask that you vaccinate us with Covishield, which has completed all stages of the trial prior to launch.”
Pathologist Arvind Ahuja told AFP at the hospital on Saturday that he shared some of the concerns.
“I hope the data is good when it comes out. Ideally, they should have waited at least a month, as then we would have known better about its effectiveness,” said the 45-year-old.
Vaccination hesitancy has become a top concern, with a recent survey of 18,000 people across India finding that 69% were in no rush to get vaccinated.
Leading scientists and clinicians have asked authorities to release efficacy data on Covaxin to increase confidence in the vaccine.
Recipients of Covaxin on Saturday had to sign a consent form stating that its “clinical efficacy … has not yet been established.”
Officials had expected to inoculate 300,000 people on Saturday, but said failures with an app used to coordinate and monitor the process meant that not all potential recipients were alerted.
India has the second highest number of known cases in the world with more than 10.5 million coronavirus infections and more than 152,000 deaths so far.
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