ANDLeaving the Sagrada Familia hospital in New Delhi, a sanitation worker, Ram Verma, took a deep breath of relief. As one of the first in India to receive a coronavirus vaccine on Saturday – marking the start of the largest vaccination programs in the world – he was feeling a little nervous.
“I must admit I was nervous,” said Verma, who had received his injection of Covaxin at a center located in the hospital’s parking lot. “Many of us were. I thought I was going to pass out or have side effects. After all, it is something totally new. But I am fine. There is nothing to worry about. “
Anila Singh, a nurse at Ram Manohar Lohia hospital in the capital, said she almost cried with relief when she learned she would be one of the first to receive the vaccine. “I thought of all the people I saw dying, all the families that lost someone they loved and my daily fear of getting the virus, everything happened again,” she said. “Finally, let’s turn the page.”
Across India, 3,006 vaccination centers began the massive task of vaccinating 300 million people by August, with health professionals, police and military as a priority. India ranks second in the world in cases of Covid-19, registering more than 10.5 million cases and more than 151,000 deaths.
Two vaccines received emergency approval for India’s immunization program: the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine, known in India as Covishield, and Covaxin, a household product developed by the Indian pharmaceutical company Bharat Biotech in conjunction with the Indian medical research council, a body government.
Although it was a slow start on Saturday, there was pressure to pick up the pace. Within a week, Mumbai plans to vaccinate 50,000 people daily, while in Delhi the number is even more ambitious. “As soon as we have 1,000 vaccination centers in the city, we will vaccinate 100,000 every day,” said Dr. Suneela Garg, who heads the Delhi vaccination task force.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the start of the vaccine program as a proud moment for India, proclaiming that it “shows the world our ability”. However, a shadow hung over the procedures as doctors, health advocates and scientists questioned the suitability and safety of Covaxin and accused the government of avoiding the protocol to approve it.
The vaccine has not completed human phase 3 testing and there is no conclusive final data on its effectiveness, placing India between Russia and China, which also decided to launch a vaccine still in the testing phase. The government said that Covaxin is “100% safe” and on Saturday 5.5 million doses were shipped across the country, although they are administered in “test mode”.
On Saturday, the Ram Manohar Lohia hospital resident medical association wrote a letter to the hospital superintendent expressing concern about Covaxin and asked that they be allowed to stay with Covishield.
Dr. Nirmalya Mohapatra, a senior resident doctor and vice president of the association, said: “There is a lot of concern because we don’t have the same data for Covaxin. We are healthcare professionals and we are concerned that Covaxin may not protect us from another wave of infection because it is still in testing. Therefore, we are only asking for the choice of which vaccine we will receive. “
Mohapatra said that without a choice offered, it could lead to a widespread refusal to get the vaccine among doctors. On Saturday, at Ram Manohar Lohia hospital, only 31 of the 100 health professionals registered to receive the vaccine attended, partly due to a technical problem, but also due to concerns among staff that the hospital is offering only Covaxin.
Bharat Biotech has also been accused of ethical violations for allegedly testing Covaxin on people in Bhopal’s slums in Madhya Pradesh, without them knowing it was a trial. Seven people claimed that they were told they were receiving a vaccine that would protect them from the virus and received 750 rupees, unaware that it was an untested vaccine or that they could have received a placebo.
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 Covaxin study be suspended in Bhopal. “The testimonies demonstrate an incentive that represents a violation of the principle of voluntary participation without encouragement or coercion,” they said. “Many participants were misled to enroll in the test because their vulnerabilities were attacked.”
Bharat Biotech denied any ethical violations and said the study fully complied with “the guidelines for good clinical practice and all regulatory provisions that apply to conducting clinical studies in India”.
Questions about Covaxin also did not help the government’s desperate attempts to contain misinformation and false rumors about vaccines circulating on WhatsApp and fueling hesitation. On Wednesday, Delhi’s chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, called on people to be alert against misinformation about vaccines.
At the Spinal Injury Center in New Delhi, Dr. Kali Datta Das, a surgeon, said some false WhatsApp rumors about the vaccine caused a wave of last-minute anxiety on Saturday. However, he remained optimistic. “We vaccinated 100 employees today and it was a very positive climate because people felt that there was finally a solution in sight for Covid-19,” said Das.