There is a difference of opinion among doctors regarding COVID vaccine Covaxin at Mumbai’s JJ Hospital, Maharashtra’s biggest state-run health facility.

While nearly half of the hospital’s doctors have refused to take the Covaxin jab in the first phase of vaccination, the other half led by the dean Dr Ranjeet Mankeshwar and Dr Ragini Parekh, head, Opthalmalogy, have not only taken the shot, but are also vocal about its efficacy and safety.

Guinea pig is a term that pops up frequently when you talk to the doctors who have refused to take the jab. While almost none of them wanted to go on record, as a refusal to take a Covaxin jab can be viewed as going against the hospital’s top management, they all want to know why JJ should opt for the ‘unproven’ Covaxin when every other hospital in the city is using Covishield.

And this entire for-and-against debate - which has spawned two very active, even aggressive, WhatsApp groups -- is taking place in really strange circumstances. The hospital itself is a centre for Covaxin’s stage-III human trial, the data for which has not yet been made available by the manufacturer, Bharat Biotech. The trial was suspended earlier this month when the hospital had inoculated 458 volunteers. The hospital was told that nationally the required number of volunteers have taken the jab.

“So we have this very strange situation. On the one hand, a team of doctors of our hospital is looking at the data of 458 volunteers to conclude whether the vaccine is effective and safe, and on the other we are being told to go ahead and take the shot and being guaranteed that it is safe and effective,” said a senior doctor who did not wish to be identified. He said a doctors’ WhatsApp group he is part of is full of angry chatter about “we being made a part of the third phase trial” under the garb of safeguarding us from the virus.

A recent Lancet study, which spoke of the positive results in Covaxin’s first-stage trial, has not helped in satisfying the skeptics. “If anything, the Lancet study only proves our point. It talks of the results of stage 1 of the trial. I am sure there is a reason why the trials the world over were carried out in three stages. Why this unholy hurry only to push Covaxin through?” asked another doctor.

While numbers across all vaccination centers in Mumbai were low for the first few days, but picked up in the second week, JJ has consistently recorded very low numbers. And one of the reasons for this, doctors said, was Covaxin. On Friday, January 22, only 25 health workers were vaccinated at JJ against the day’s target of 500. The numbers for Tuesday and Wednesday in the same week were 13 and 15. Vaccination was suspended for a day on Thursday.

Comparative numbers for other hospitals where frontline health workers are getting Covishield jabs are much higher. For instance, while 188 people were vaccinating at Nair Hospital on January 16, day one of vaccination drive in Mumbai, on Saturday, January 23, the hospital vaccinated 456. Of course, even the hospitals administering Covishield have had to change tack to improve numbers. While initially only those registered on Co-WIN app were vaccinated, centers now are inoculating anyone who walks in so long he/she is on the approved list of frontline health workers.

Dr Mankeshwar on Friday confirmed that the low number of health workers stepping forward to be inoculated at JJ was a matter of concern. He said that while the hospital has listed 3,000 health workers for inoculation, only 92 had been vaccinated till Friday, December 22.

Of the two doctors who have refused to be vaccinated with Covaxin and were willing to be quoted in this story, one has an underlying heart condition and said his treating doctor has advised him that Covishield would be a safer option. The other said she does not want to be vaccinated – Covishield or Covaxin – because she believes Covid-19 has lost much of its virulence.

Dr Ashok Anand, a senior gynaecologist, said he is on blood thinners after having undergone an angioplasty procedure last year. “I cannot take Covaxin because there are adverse reactions associated with it. My doctor has given me the go-ahead for Covishield, but JJ is only offering Covaxin shots,” he said.

Dr Vaishali Mohod, who is a senior intensivist at St George Hospital and was listed among the doctors to be inoculated at JJ, said she has worked in Covid wards when the pandemic was at its peak. “If I did not contract the infection all this while, then I guess I have developed immunity against the virus. Also, Covid-19 seems to have lost some of its nastiness now. There are fewer cases and the number of recoveries is also up. So, I don’t want to be vaccinated now,” she said.

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