Covaxin a hardsell in 2 of India’s largest hospitals

Mumbai | New Delhi: Vaccine hesitancy has hit two of India’s largest state-run hospitals — JJ Hospital in Mumbai and the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, where Covaxin is being administered.The authorities at these two premier healthcare centres are trying to convince their staff to take the Covaxin vaccine even as the health ministry and the Central government consider taking penal action against those who spread misinformation about the efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines. Covaxin, developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech, is being administered under clinical trial mode, which means those receiving it are part of an open label trial.JJ Hospital, the only site for Covaxin vaccines in the city, has had the lowest turnout. Last week, only 19 health workers were vaccinated at JJ Hospital when a total of 4,374 doses were administered in the city. Since the inoculation drive started on January 16, JJ Hospital has vaccinated only 111 staffers, while the total vaccination figure for the city is 13,364.“We think the number is slowly picking up. We are reaching out to beneficiaries and counselling them. But we cannot force people to vaccinate themselves. We try our best to tell them that the vaccine is safe and efficacious,” Ranjit Mankeshwar, dean of JJ Hospital, told ET.Resident doctors at AIIMS have said they are wary about taking Covaxin amid continuing doubts and anxiety over the efficacy of the indigenously developed Covid-19 vaccine, which was approved for use before the completion of phase 3 trials that determine efficacy. Approval for Covaxin was granted under a provision of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act that allows companies to apply for approval with phase-2 trial data.80455376“We met the dean and the deputy director, administration showing our unwillingness to go for Covaxin. Many of us would want to wait for the results before we get inoculated,” said Adarsh Pratap Singh, president of the Resident Doctors Association at AIIMS.At JJ Hospital, the administrative staff is struggling to get senior doctors vaccinated. With few takers from among its over 500 resident doctors, the hospital has asked second- and third-year medical students to enrol for the shots so that doses don’t go waste, people aware of the development told ET.The parents of some of these students have expressed concern over the random selection of beneficiaries and some have asked their wards not to get vaccinated, ET has learnt. The AIIMS doctors said they are reluctant to take Covaxin because they can’t follow something blindly.

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