Who will cure our covaxin blues
Indians were disappointed yet again yesterday, as WHO said it was expecting additional information from Bharat Biotech, to be able to recommend Covaxin for emergency use listing. This is not a matter of concern only for those who have taken the over 11 crore Covaxin doses administered in the country so far, since its emergency use authorisation here way back in January. That overall these months such an experienced vaccine-maker has not been able to satisfy WHO’s EUL requirements is a larger embarrassment and concern.Since neither WHO nor the company has provided details of the data that is falling short, there is understandably a lot of guesswork taking place, such as whether Bharat Biotech has not followed procedures for adverse events adequately or whether there have been other deficits in the trials. The problem is that we still do not have complete peer-reviewed trial data. It has only been shared with the government and WHO, not put in the public domain. It is not about whether the vaccine works. There are truckloads of real-life evidence countrywide that it does. But the transparency that is core to the credibility of scientific processes has left a lot to be desired here.
Bharat Biotech has developed Covaxin in collaboration with ICMR. This apex and venerable body as well as the government should defend citizens’ interests rather than Bharat Biotech, which means addressing our doubts in detail by pressing the company to do so.
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