Vaccine hesitancy: Less than half of the eligible health workers turn up to get Covid jab in Delhi

Less than 50 % health workers showed up to get a jab of the Covid-19 vaccine at the six Central government-run hospitals in Delhi on the first two days of the ongoing Covid-19 vaccination drive.

A total of 551 (44.08 per cent) health workers out of a target of 1,250 were administered the vaccine on January 16 and 18, data obtained from the hospitals and respective district officials showed, as per a report carried by The Print.

While 75 of the 81 hospitals in Delhi run by Delhi government and private players were allotted Covishield vaccine manufactured in the country by the Serum Institute of India (SII), the six Central government-run hospitals — All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Safdarjung, RML, Kalawati Saran Children’s Hospital, ESI Hospital Basaidarapur, and ESI Hospital Rohini — have received Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, which is still in trial mode.

At AIIMS, only eight health workers took the vaccine on Monday, as opposed to 95 people who were vaccinated on Saturday, said the report. An ‘adverse event’ had been reported at AIIMS when a security guard had to be admitted to the ICU after getting the vaccine.

The Resident Doctors Association at AIIMS and RML Hospital has even filed a representation with their respective medical superintendents, saying that ‘doctors might not turn up in huge numbers since they are not keen to get Covaxin due to concerns about efficacy’.

As per the report, at Safdarjung Hospital, only 20 persons were vaccinated on the second day as opposed to 72 earlier. At ESI Hospital Basaidarapu, only 27 healthcare workers showed up on Monday as compared to 32 on Saturday. At its other branch in Rohini, only 37 healthcare workers got the Covaxin shot on Monday.

However, at Kalawati Saran Children’s Hospital and RML, there was an improvement in numbers on the second day, it said. At Kalawati, situated on the Lady Hardinge Medical College (LHMC) campus, 76 people were administered Covaxin on Monday in comparison to 26 on the first day. At RML Hospital, 69 workers were vaccinated on day two out of the targeted 150, medical superintendent Dr A.K. Rana was quoted as having said.

Even at other sites where Covishield is being administered, the response was lukewarm. Of the targeted 8,136 healthcare workers, 3,598 were vaccinated across 81 centres in the national capital on Monday as opposed to 4,319 on the first day of the vaccination drive.

As per the report, in the city’s South district, only 316 of a target of 900 healthcare workers were vaccinated across nine hospitals. In West, 457 of 1,100 beneficiaries were vaccinated on Saturday at 11 centres. In North West district, 575 turned up against a target of 1,100 at 11 centres.