Ten days ago, India released its two vaccines, CoviShield & Covaxin, to begin distribution to frontline workers and eventually the general population. As such, Dr. Sumit Bhatia, leading IBD specialist at Medanta – The Medicity Hospital in Gurgaon, India, and Dr. Neilanjan Nandi, esteemed IBD specialist at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA, joined me on the FITWITMD Facebook page for a live discussion to explain the two vaccines in India along with the two mRNA vaccines in much of the Western world. The purpose of this discussion was to understand how COVID is affecting the IBD population and to address vaccine hesitancy in the global South Asian IBD community.
Please feel free to watch our discussion in the video below:
The guidance around these vaccines is clear: The mRNA vaccines & CoviShield are safe to receive in the IBD population. IBD specialists do want patients to receive these vaccines as soon as we qualify to receive them. The risk of COVID is too great and it is best to prevent COVID in our population due to potential long-term complications involved in contracting the virus.
**Regarding Covaxin in India, since Phase 3 trial results are still pending, the vaccine maker has asked the immunocompromised population to hold off on vaccination until trials are complete: https://www.businesstoday.in/current/economy-politics/dont-take-vaccine-if-you-have-these-conditions-bharat-biotech-releases-advisory/story/428345.html. More information to come on this shortly.
IBD Patients: this video is for educational purposes only. Please discuss the vaccinations available in your country and when you should receive the vaccine with your IBD specialist and/or other specialists involved in your care.
For more information on the mRNA vaccines and recommendations for the IBD population, visit: https://ownyourcrohns.com/mrna-covid-vaccine-ibd/.
