Avoid rumors and get vaccinated

By Dr.Dhiren Gupta

Two worries are creeping among covishield vaccines recipients . One is of getting break through infections and second about thrombosis post vaccination ( in young females ) .Irresponsible statements from various agencies / social media added confusion to these issues .

Use of the vaccine has been suspended for individuals younger than 55 or 60 years in several European countries and in Canada after reports of a prothrombotic disorder and thrombocytopenia, mainly in younger individuals.
Now, more information on the prothrombotic disorder has become available. The vaccine appears to be linked to a condition that clinically resembles heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) and that occurs mainly in younger women.
Researchers have described clinical and laboratory details of nine patients from Germany and Austria who developed this condition 4 to 16 days after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine in a preprint article published March 28 on Research Square.
They found that serum from four patients who were tested showed platelet-activating antibodies directed against platelet factor 4 (PF4), similar to what is seen in HIT.
They are proposing naming the condition “vaccine-induced prothrombotic immune thrombocytopenia (VIPIT)” to avoid confusion with hit.Till date we understand that these breakthrough infections are not severe and complications of thrombosis is very rare .
Solution

1)Though risk benefits ratio still favors use of AstraZeneca vaccination but this question should be analyzed systematically in India . In India maximum number of Covishield jab has been given and our genetic constitution is different from European.

2)Also this problem can be solved by availability of other vaccines like Johnson and Johnson , Pfizer in Indian markets .

3) Indian govt already has all the data of vaccines recipients- without delay they should immediately conduct survey regarding breakthrough infections. This is very easy to conduct as all positive reports are reported / linked with Aadhar card and phone numbers . Govt just need to link both data .

We need to put end to these rumours to decrease vaccine hesitancy .

The writer is Dr Dhiren Gupta, Senior, Pediatrician, Sir Gangaram Hospital.