Doctors at Delhi’s RML Hospital Demand Covishield, Not Covaxin Shots Citing ‘Lack of Complete Trial’

New Delhi: Raising concerns over the government’s vaccination drive against COVID-19, resident doctors at Delhi’s Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital on Saturday said they wanted to be administered the Serum Institute’s Covishield instead of Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin due to “apprehensions over lack of complete trial”.

The central government has, however, sought to underplay such apprehensions saying “a lot of work” had gone into the development of both vaccines.

The resident doctors of Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital have even said they might not participate in huge numbers if Covaxin is used, reported NDTV.

“Covaxin manufactured by Bharat Biotech is being preferred over Covishield manufactured by Serum Institute in our hospital…We would like to bring to your notice that the residents are a bit apprehensive about the lack of complete trial in the case of Covaxin and might not participate in huge numbers thus defeating the purpose of the vaccination,” the Resident Doctors Association of the hospital said today in a letter to the medical superintendent of the facility.

“We request you to vaccinate us with Covishield which has completed all stages of the trial before its rollout,” the letter said.

Dr Nirmalaya Mohapatra, Vice-President of the hospital’s Resident Doctors Association, said a lot of doctors have not given their names for the countrywide drive launched today.

“We are apprehensive regarding Covaxin. Trials are yet to be completed. We will prefer Covishield over Covaxin,” Dr Mohapatra told NDTV.

Covishield has been developed by Oxford University and pharma major AstraZeneca and is produced in India by the Serum Institute of India, Pune. Covaxin has been produced by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research.

The health ministry said that permission was granted for Bharat Biotech’s shot for restricted use in the “public interest as an abundant precaution in clinical trial mode, especially in the context of infection by mutant strains.”

The Indian government had earlier said that Covaxin will be used as an emergency option but went on to say later that recipients wouldn’t have a choice in the matter of the two vaccines. In Delhi alone, Covaxin is being used in six central government facilities and Covishield at 75, including state government facilities and private hospitals. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital is a central government institution.