Age Should Not Be Criteria To Vaccinate People Says Health Experts

Age Should Not Be Criteria To Vaccinate People Says Health Experts

Health experts have criticized the ongoing vaccination campaign, where a person’s age is the criteria for receiving a vaccine. Since April 1, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare opened the vaccination campaign for people aged 45 and over throughout the country.

At a press conference held on April 6, Rajesh Bhushan, Secretary of Health and Family Welfare, clarified that the vaccination process will not be open to everyone.

Many health experts welcomed the decision not to vaccinate the entire population. However, they said that a large number of the population under the age of 45 suffers from various comorbid conditions and is more vulnerable to Covid-19 than those who are 45 or older.

At a press conference, Bhushan reported on the vaccination policy of developed countries, saying that countries like the UK have decided to vaccinate all people in the age group 16-64 with underlying health conditions. Australia is vaccinating all severely disabled adults with a specific underlying medical condition.

Although he did not make any categorical statements about whether people under 45 with comorbidity will be included in the vaccination campaign in the future, not prioritizing them is of concern to health experts, as well as to advocacy groups for various patients. .

“If you don’t vaccinate the target population, you won’t achieve the desired result. The purpose of vaccination is to save people from death. Nobody cares about the infection, it is death that must be stopped, “said Dr. Jayaprakash Muliyil, a leading epidemiologist.

He added: “The government is vaccinating all Tom, Dick, and Harry, which is wrong. They must identify vulnerable people and vaccinate them only ”.

Dr. Rahul Bhargava, Director, Department of Clinical Hematology and Bone Marrow Transplantation, Fortis Hospital at Gurugram agreed with Dr. Muliyil and said: “A 30-year-old cancer patient has a higher risk of death than a person. 50-year-old healthy due to Covid-19. I think that after covering more than 60 people, the government should have established comorbidity conditions regardless of age as the only criteria for receiving a vaccine. ”

He added: “There are a lot of people who are under 45 but suffer from cancer, heart disease, lung diseases such as tuberculosis, asthma, etc. Excluding them from the benefits of vaccines suggests a complete lack of apathy on the part of the government. . ”

Dr. Sanjay Rai, President of the Indian Public Health Association (IPHA) has also echoed a similar concern as, according to him, vaccinating all people over the age of 45 is a waste of a resource. precious.

“I am against vaccinating those who have recovered from Covid-19. This is a waste of vaccines. They have developed antibodies that will last longer than those developed with the help of vaccines. We should focus more on the vulnerable population rather than wasting it here and there, ”said Dr. Rai.

Groups and associations formed to express the concern of patients with a particular category of the disease have also demanded that they be allowed to receive vaccines regardless of their age.

One such group, the Thalassemia Patient Advocacy Group, said the government has overlooked the fact that not many thalassemia patients live beyond the age of 45.

“Studies have shown that the overall survival rate among thalassemias is less than 0.74% after age 45. Community fear has intensified in the pandemic situation,” said Anubha Taneja Mukherjee, Secretary Member of the Thalassemia Patient Advocacy Group.

He added: “While the Government has been extremely careful and protective of the community and has taken the necessary measures to ensure a good course for this group of people during the pandemic, it would be important to lower the age limit for vaccination of this high group. vulnerable. groups of patients who must visit the hospital every 15 to 20 days to receive blood transfusions. ”