Opacity hurts transparent effective communication will help vaccines prevail over misinformation

Opacity hurts transparent effective communication will help vaccines prevail over misinformation

There is palpable unease among scientists over Indian vaccine makers submitting their vaccines for emergency licences without publicly releasing the relevant data from trials. In sharp contrast, Pfizer, Moderna and Oxford-AstraZeneca sought emergency use authorisation only after publishing Phase 3 trial data on vaccine efficacy. Bharat Biotech hasn’t published Phase 1/2 safety and immunogenicity data for Covaxin yet. Serum Institute’s Covishield vaccine is similar to Oxford-AstraZeneca’s. But in a different tack, SII has reportedly preferred to approach the Drugs Controller General of India with interim data from the Phase 2 and 3 India trials.

The hurry betrays a competitive, market-centric streak though allowances are made in life-threatening conditions for drugs demonstrating “remarkable efficacy” in early trials. This year’s health and economic exigencies are rightly forcing bureaucracies into accelerated approvals for public good. But the vaccine delivery phase has pitfalls that can endanger the attempt to reach herd immunity through inoculation. Companies must publish the data gleaned from trials, else regulator DCGI must prod them. Social media exercises unregulated command with authorities having limited control over fake news and misinformation that individual minds imbibe. Unlike trials, the information explosion from lakhs of inoculations will be staggering. Vaccines have side effects in some people, some too minor to register, others that disconcertingly last several hours.

Social media’s tendency to amplify extreme views will put the adverse reactions on a viral trajectory, potentially inducing vaccine resistance. Unrelated deaths among persons with underlying health conditions could also get blamed on the vaccine. Combating this misinformation requires proactive communication, data sharing and transparency. Governments must be prepared to show deaths aren’t deviating from the normal and health workers must be mobilised to tackle misinformation. For this effort to succeed later, vaccine companies must lay a strong foundation now. They must publicly share the trial data for experts to offer informed opinion and citizens to make informed choices.