Vaccine hesitation likely to impact future work: Expert

HYDERABAD: Cautioning the Indian healthcare community against anti-vaccine sentiment in India, like seen in the US, professor Peter J Hotez, dean of National School of Tropical Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas on Thursday said that several deaths seen post pandemic have been the result of Covid-19 virus and not the vaccine.
Speaking at AIG hospital on the subject of ‘global vaccines for neglected diseases and related gastrointestinal infections’, Hotez said, “Yes, mRNA vaccines do have higher complications than a vaccine like Corbevax, but it is still very safe. The issue is that initially the people vaccinated were 65+ individuals, who were old already. This created a whole trend on social media called #SuddenDeath in the US, which damaged the vaccination efforts.”
The Corbevax vaccine was developed at Texas Children’s Hospital Centre for Vaccine Development (TCH-CVD) at Baylor College of Medicine, led by Dr Maria Elena Bottazzi and Peter Hotez
Professor Hotez added that this vaccine hesitation, if not curtailed soon, could impact vaccine work when the next epidemic or pandemic arrives and also impact childhood immunisation. “We are having epidemics every six to seven years with potential to become a pandemic,” he said.
Further underscoring the need for research and use of vaccines for neglected diseases, specifically which impact poorer countries, Hotez spoke about the vaccine for hookworm, which the team at TCH-CVD had developed.
He opined that having a holistic approach to eradicate hookworm from India should be considered.
“While medicines like albendazole are there, having a holistic approach is crucial in eradicating the condition. Presently, albendazole needs to be administered every six months, but with our vaccine work, we hope to reduce this to a couple of shots and also overcome issues like mutation,” said Dr Maria Elena Bottazzi, associate dean at Baylor college of Medicine, adding that these are often neglected diseases which may not add to mortality but they are chronic and debilitating nevertheless.