Indian health workers balk at taking local COVID-19 vaccine

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India is struggling to convince its health and frontline workers to take a controversially approved locally approved COVID-19 vaccine without late-stage efficacy data, government data shows, dashboard.cowin.gov.in Thursday, a few days in advance of a larger rollout.

The country has the second highest number of COVID-19 infections in the world after the United States, with cases having recently increased due to the decline in mask wear and states have relaxed social distancing measures. A lack of confidence in a local vaccinated country could prevent India from achieving its goal of vaccinating 300 million of its 1.35 billion people by August.

India has vaccinated more than 10.5 million health and frontline workers since the start of its vaccination campaign on January 16.

But only 1.2 million of them, or about 11%, took COVAXIN, Bharat Biotech’s locally developed vaccine, while the remaining 9.4 million used AstraZeneca’s licensed vaccine, according to the platform. Government Co-Win line used to track vaccination campaign.

The Indian federal government has so far ordered 10 million doses of COVAXIN and 21 million doses of the vaccine from the University of Oxford / AstraZeneca. The government claims to have received at least 5.5 million doses of COVAXIN.

“This is all due to the initial discussion of how (COVAXIN) was just an investigational vaccine, how it didn’t complete the Phase 3 trial,” said Dr Subhash Salunkhe, who advises the Maharashtra state government on vaccine strategy.

“These things created doubts in the minds of people, resulting in less acceptance. Availability is not an issue at this point. “

However, Indian Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Tuesday attributed the lower use of COVAXIN to the limited production capacity of Bharat Biotech compared to that of the Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine producer, which makes the vaccine. AstraZeneca for low and middle income. countries.

“We have found that in proportion to the amount of vaccine available in our country, the (COVAXIN) sample is quite satisfactory,” said at a press conference.

His ministry did not respond to a request for comment on the latest figures showing that only about 12% of the doses ordered had been administered.

Earlier this month, Chhattisgarh, an opposition-led state of 32 million, told the federal government it would not use COVAXIN until its effectiveness was proven in a trial. in progress at an advanced stage. The epidemiologist and public health experts have also criticized the approval of COVAXIN as rushed.

Bharat Biotech said efficacy data from the trial on nearly 26,000 volunteers will be available soon. The company, along with the Indian drug regulator, says the vaccine is safe and effective based on early and interim studies.

Bharat Biotech did not immediately comment on any use of its vaccine.

INCREASING CASES

The government is trying to speed up vaccinations as cases have increased, especially in western Maharashtra and southern Kerala state, possibly because they have reopened trains and schools in suburbs.

Mask-wearing and social distancing have also largely disappeared, with big events like international cricket matches played in front of tens of thousands of spectators following virtually no COVID-19 rules.

India reported 16,738 new coronavirus infections in the past 24 hours, the highest daily jump in a month, data from the Ministry of Health showed Thursday, bringing the total to 11.05 million.

More than half of the new cases were in Maharashtra, India’s richest and home to its financial capital Mumbai, which on Wednesday reported a record 8,807 cases.

The death toll across the country increased by 138, also the highest in a month, bringing the total to 156,705.

(Interactive graph tracking the global spread of the coronavirus: here)