BHUBANESWAR: People living with HIV (PLHIV) may have an increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection and fatal outcomes, but they seem to be out of the Odisha government’s vaccination radar.
Despite high comorbid condition, most of the HIV patients have not been administered Covid-19 vaccine due to lack of coordination between Odisha State AIDS Control Society (OSACS) and anti-retroviral treatment (ART) centres.
The State has nearly 22,000 PLHIV including children below 18 years who have been enrolled in 15 ART and Facility Integrated ART (FI-ART) centres at different DHHs and MCHs in the State.
While different social organisations working for the section claimed that less than five per cent (pc) among them have been vaccinated so far, the OSACS, which is supposed to facilitate the vaccination of PLHIV on a priority basis, does not have any data on the inoculation of the most vulnerable community.
The National AIDS Control Organisation had also asked all states to ensure that all eligible PLHIV, irrespective of CD4 count and viral load, are vaccinated for protecting themselves against Covid and also to limit the spread of the disease to their contacts, including family members, friends and co-workers.
“But there is no initiative from OSACS for vaccination of HIV people. The office does not know how many among them have received single or double-dose,” said a representative of the PLHIV community and an executive committee member of OSACS quoting an RTI reply.
The HIV positive people, most of whom are from the weaker sections of the society, alleged that the State nodal agency has been giving a deaf ear to their pleas for the last three months, though by now all of them should have taken both the doses of the vaccines.
HIV infection was one of the 20 criteria of comorbid people listed by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to be vaccinated on a priority basis from March 1.
Instead of facilitating smooth vaccination, the OSACS allegedly preferred to sit idle after writing a couple of letters to ART centres to issue comorbidity certificates to beneficiaries.
Though OSACS Project Director Dr Sanjukta Sahoo claimed that some PLHIV people are yet to get vaccines as they are not coming forward and ART centres delayed issuing comorbidity certificates, her letter to the Director of Family Welfare tells a different tale.
The June 8 letter stated: “There are around 20,000 PLHIV active on ART care. Necessary steps may be taken to ensure all eligible beneficiaries complete the schedule of Covid-19 vaccination.”
Reacting to the letter, the representative said the PLHIV people have been issued green cards and instead of forcing them to collect comorbidity certificates, they should have been vaccinated on production of the card as proof.