[shaheenazk]

Originally Posted by Zen2001

I'm not saying they're all crap, but they're not gold standard either.

Has anyone heard of Robert Koch and his 4 postulates?

[alphadog]

I got vaccinated with the Covishield vaccine last friday. Being a surgeon, I was offered the vaccine through my workplace and I went ahead. The whole process was pretty streamlined - SMS invite comes in, at the vaccination room - ID proof has to be presented, details are entered into an online database (CoWin), vaccination done and then I was kept in observation for 30 min for any adverse reaction. Instructions were not to consume alcohol for 28 days and to take paracetamol prophylactically. During this time a confirmatory SMS comes through. The next dose is going to be in 28 days and I was told I would get an invite for the same.

The early response that most healthcare professionals in my institution and other doctor groups that I am a part of from various states, experience are, myalgia, feeling flu like or under the weather and some people report fever which lasts for a day or so. I too experienced the same, nothing serious.

Cheerio!

[vivek95]

Being the frontline Doctor in Covid pandemic, I was offered Covishield few days back to be taken at Apollo, Navi Mumbai. However, I am simply letting my body to take the natural route. As already mentioned in this thread, I have been tested positive for antibodies (IgG) twice - August and October, second time the titres being even higher. Hence rejected the vaccine and asked someone else if interested to go ahead and take it.

Today I am planning to test myself for antibodies again. Hoping that the titres are even more higher this time too. That said, all my colleagues who have taken the vaccine have experienced fever and myalgia that lasted about a day or two which is an expected response. No big deal about it. So go ahead and take the vaccine.

[Sree]

Just completed vaccination for my wife and myself. Waiting out the mandatory 30 minutes. So far so good.
Hoping for nothing more than mild myalgia.
As, I am getting the vaccine in Kerala, only Astra zeneca SII vaccine is being used here.

[PearlJam]

From the news18 site www.news18.com (sorry, no direct link yet, it's live news):

Centre's New Rule Says Spreading Rumours on Covid-19 Vaccine Can Get You Booked Under Disaster Management Act, IPC

Faced with the problem of circulation of rumours about the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, the Centre has asked the states to check the spread of such misinformation and advised them to take penal action against those who are found to be involved in dissemination of wrong and ill-informed news. In a communication to chief secretaries of all states and UTs, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla also strongly emphasised that the National Regulatory Authority in the country has found that the two vaccines -- Covishield, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, and Covaxin, developed and manufactured by the Bharat Biotech Limited -- were safe and immunogenic.

So be careful what you discuss about vaccines, folks!

[Gansan]

India started vaccinating medical personnel and front line workers on Jan'16th and so far 1.5 million people are covered. The target number is 300 million. When are they going to complete it and start vaccinating the public? Even if they vaccinate 1 million a day, it will take 300 days to complete the number.

[sunilch]

Originally Posted by Gansan

India started vaccinating medical personnel and front line workers on Jan'16th and so far 1.5 million people are covered. The target number is 300 million. When are they going to complete it and start vaccinating the public? Even if they vaccinate 1 million a day, it will take 300 days to complete the number.

Medical personnel and front line workers in total are not 300mn. I think that 300mn includes everyone who is expected to get it free from the govt. That includes all Sr Citizens and all BPL families.


-Sunil

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by Gansan

India started vaccinating medical personnel and front line workers on Jan'16th and so far 1.5 million people are covered. The target number is 300 million. When are they going to complete it and start vaccinating the public? Even if they vaccinate 1 million a day, it will take 300 days to complete the number.

Someone did the math for this query and a report is published today.

https://www.deccanherald.com/nationa...le-942902.html

[Zen2001]

Now adding more fuel to the fire - Times of India: Covaxin divides doctors at Maharashtra’s biggest government hospital.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...edium=Referral

[Zen2001]

Originally Posted by shaheenazk

Has anyone heard of Robert Koch and his 4 postulates?

That takes me back to the early 2nd MBBS days more than 25 years ago!
But apparently, when Koch et al laid down these postulates, the knowledge of virology was still in very early infancy and merely extrapolated from lab culture isolation of erstwhile bacterial pathogens.
In many instances, Koch's postulates may not totally be applicable to viral pathogens and neither do ALL postulates need to be satisfied to document a viral infection!

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5182102/

[Zen2001]

Some pertinent logistical challenges of Covid19 vaccination need to be considered - and the govt is supposedly doing (or has done) the math - but here goes nothing :

India plans to immunise 200-250 million people – some one-sixth of its population – with 400-500 million COVID-19 vaccines by July 2021. Currently, India’s universal immunisation programme (UIP) targets 26.7 million newborns and 29 million pregnant women every year – together making up merely 4% of the total population. These people receive about 390 million doses of vaccines, over nine million sessions, every year. In this scenario, to administer 400-500 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine by the first two quarters of 2021, India needs to ramp up its existing infrastructure significantly, which is a lot easier to say than achieve in practice.

Commensurate with the millions of vaccine doses that the country expects to administer, India will also need syringes and vials in the same range. Manufactures of such equipment fear that as the government hasn’t yet floated any tenders or reached out to them for these products, it may be left scrambling later – just as it did with PPE earlier during the epidemic.

And now the "fallout"? Experts on vaccination and immunisation believe that COVID-19 vaccine efforts could shift the focus away from immunisation of children and pregnant mothers.
Routine immunisation has already been stretched during the COVID-19 lockdown. Between January and August 2020, only 12 million children were vaccinated, a coverage of 68.5%, in eight months, according to data from the Union health ministry. But 17.8 million children should have been vaccinated in these months to meet the UIP’s 2019 goal of vaccinating 26.7 million infants every year.

In fact, India’s national vaccination programme (hailed world over) has struggled to meet its goal of vaccinating 55.7 million people annually over the last five decades, according to the UIP’s five-year plan in 2018. India does not have a universal adult vaccination programme, for example for flu shots, the human papillomavirus or pneumococcus. If a COVID-19 vaccine becomes available, and if it piggybacks on the existing children’s and mothers’ immunisation programme, it could burden the existing system as well as compromise the health of children and pregnant women.

As the daily case load of covid19 infections continues to fall across the country, along with a commensurate decline in hospital admissions (morbidity) and mortality, we might not even be looking at a reduction in cumulative deaths above a 3 digit figure in the next 6 months, or even a year WITH A VACCINE simply because these numbers have fallen even WITHOUT a vaccine. However, overburdening the vaccination systems runs the high risk of further neglecting the UIP of MILLIONS of pregnant women and under 5 children - think of the long lasting effect of TB, Rubella, Tetanus, Polio, Diphtheria!

Oh, by the way, the country with the highest estimated number of TB related deaths is India with an estimated 436,000 deaths in HIV negative adults and 9,500 in HIV positive adults. Compare that with Covid.

[abhi7013]

A question to doctors out here on TeamBHP: Should the vaccine be given to people who are prescribed with immunosuppressive drugs (for rheumatoid arthritis)?
There are chances that the vaccine may not work given the lack of immune response, so should it be given at all? Also, assuming they are vaccinated, would the side effects be the same as experienced by the majority or would it be detrimental?

[drrajasaravanan]

Originally Posted by abhi7013

A question to doctors out here on TeamBHP: Should the vaccine be given to people who are prescribed with immunosuppressive drugs (for rheumatoid arthritis)?

Hi,
There is no sufficient reliable data to support or avoid vaccination. The decision will be case to case basis. The risk of developing COVID pneumonia post vaccination is present and can potentially endanger life.
If I am aware of any new information will share here. Why don't you consider consulting a infectious disease specialist who can weigh the risks involved and take a decision.

[Zen2001]

Originally Posted by abhi7013

A question to doctors out here on TeamBHP: Should the vaccine be given to people who are prescribed with immunosuppressive drugs (for rheumatoid arthritis)?
There are chances that the vaccine may not work given the lack of immune response, so should it be given at all? Also, assuming they are vaccinated, would the side effects be the same as experienced by the majority or would it be detrimental?

According to the fact sheet posted on Bharat Biotech's website, it is advisable not to take the vaccine if a person has allergies, fever or bleeding disorder, weaker immunity or are on a medicine that affects their immune system.

Serum Institute of India's factsheet said one should not get the Covishield vaccine if the person had a severe allergic reaction after a previous dose of this vaccine. The recipients should also mention to the healthcare provider, if they have fever, if they have a bleeding disorder or are on a blood thinner and also if they are immuno-compromised or are on a medicine that affects your immune system, it added

So yes, if someone is immuno compromised, or on immune suppression for autoimmune conditions (like RA), there may not be the anticipated protective acquired immune response. Also, how your lowered immune system reacts to the viral vector carried spike protein (in Covishield) is unknown.

In case of Covaxin, this being a live inactivated (attenuated) virus, it becomes a relative contraindication for anyone with immunocompromise/immunosuppression to receive it for the rate chance of the injected virus actually replicating and overwhelming your already suppressed immunity (unless you have other high risk factors that make Covid actually more dangerous for you).

In the end - discuss with your treating doctor, preferably physician, Infectious diseases specialist or immunologist. Remember, even if you take any vaccine, "Covid appropriate precautions/behaviour" will need to be followed anyway.

[fhdowntheline]

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...w/80460769.cms

This is exactly what I have expressed in an earlier post. There should be decentralization which will greatly expand the scope, reach and flexibility. The objective is to provide vaccine, not control the process of providing vaccine.