NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India is struggling to convince its health and frontline professionals to get a controversially approved, internally grown COVID-19 vaccine without end-stage efficacy data, government data showed dashboard.cowin .gov.in on Thursday, days before a broader implementation.
The country has the second highest number of COVID-19 infections in the world, after the United States, with cases recently emerging as mask use declines and states have reduced measures of social distance. The lack of confidence in a country with home vaccines could prevent India from meeting its goal of vaccinating 300 million of its 1.35 billion inhabitants by August.
India has vaccinated more than 10.5 million health workers and the front line since the start of its immunization campaign on 16 January.
But only 1.2 million, or about 11%, took COVAXIN, the vaccine developed locally by Bharat Biotech, while the remaining 9.4 million used the vaccine licensed by AstraZeneca, according to the government’s Co-Win online platform used to track the vaccination campaign.
The federal government of India has so far ordered 10 million doses of COVAXIN and 21 million doses of the vaccine from Oxford University / AstraZeneca. The government claims to have received at least 5.5 million doses of COVAXIN.
“It’s all because of the initial discussion about how (COVAXIN) was just an experimental vaccine, as it had not completed the Phase 3 trial,” said Dr. Subhash Salunkhe, who advises the Maharashtra state government on the vaccine strategy .
“These things created doubts in people’s minds, resulting in less acceptance. Availability is not a concern at this time. “
However, India’s health secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Tuesday attributed the lower absorption of COVAXIN to Bharat Biotech’s limited production capacity compared to that of the Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine producer, which is producing the AstraZeneca vaccine for low and middle income countries.
“We found that, in proportion to the amount of vaccine available to us, the withdrawal (from COVAXIN) is quite satisfactory,” said a news conference.
His ministry did not respond to a request for comment on the latest figures showing that only about 12% of the requested doses were administered.
Earlier this month, Chhattisgarh, an opposition-run state with 32 million people, told the federal government that it would not use COVAXIN until its effectiveness could be proven in an ongoing trial. Epidemiologists and public health experts have also criticized COVAXIN’s approval as rushed.
Bharat Biotech said the trial’s efficacy data on some 26,000 volunteers will be released soon. The company, along with India’s drug regulator, says the vaccine is safe and effective based on initial and intermediate studies.
Bharat Biotech did not immediately comment on the low absorption of its vaccine.
CASES RISING
The government is trying to streamline vaccinations as cases increase, especially in Maharashtra, in western and southern Kerala state, possibly because they have reopened suburban trains and schools.
The use of masks and social detachment have also largely disappeared, with major events such as international cricket matches being played in front of tens of thousands of spectators who hardly follow the rules of COVID-19.
India reported 16,738 new coronavirus infections in the past 24 hours, the biggest daily jump in a month, health ministry data showed on Thursday, bringing the total to 11.05 million.
More than half of the new cases occurred in Maharashtra, India’s wealthiest region and home to its financial capital, Mumbai, which recorded a record 8,807 cases on Wednesday.
Deaths across the country increased by 138, also the highest in a month, totaling 156,705.
(Interactive chart that tracks the global spread of the coronavirus: here)
Reporting by Anuron Kumar Mitra in Bengaluru and Shilpa Jamkhandikar in Mumbai; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Christian Schmollinger