A letter by the Union home secretary to state governments urging them to take action under the Disaster Management Act and IPC against those spreading “unfounded and misleading rumours” about the safety and efficacy of Covid vaccines being used in India has caused unease among many doctors and public health experts.
They expressed the view that threats of penal action against those raising doubts is not the best way to tackle vaccine hesitancy and could even be counter-productive. With no data from phase-III trial of Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin nor data from the Indian bridge trial of Serum’s Covishield being put in the public domain or published in any peer reviewed journal, many have been sceptical of claims of the two vaccines’ efficacy.
Reports of serious adverse events including deaths of eight beneficiaries, which have been declared as “not related to the vaccine”, have added to people’s reluctance to take the vaccination even as lakhs have already been vaccinated. Health workers and doctors have expressed unhappiness with the way the deaths were investigated and have demanded that more information be put out on it.
“It is important for the scientific community and health professionals to engage with the evidence and for them to understand the rationale for regulatory decisions, especially those which have been taken through expedited mechanisms during the pandemic. We should encourage such discussions and respond to any concerns they might have. This is also relevant because they are the first recipients of these interventions (vaccines) as per the priority list. More transparency, engagement and discussion is in public interest, and should be encouraged, not penalised,” said Dr Anant Bhan, former president of the International Association of Bioethics.
“Vaccine hesitancy is an umbrella term that covers a spectrum. It is a challenge to deal with, and an approach which is very different from this letter (home secretary’s letter) was outlined in the government’s communication strategy published just a few weeks ago,” pointed out Dr Gagandeep Kang, one of the foremost vaccine scientists in India and vice-chair of the board of Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). Dr Kang was referring to a detailed 88-page, “Covid-19 vaccine communication strategy” put out by the health ministry at the beginning of the year, which included various measures “to build trust and enable greater confidence” in the vaccines among all people “by employing transparency in communication, while also managing any mis/disinformation and rumours around it”.