Don’t doubt Indian vaccines -G Padmanaban

-The Hindu

Vaccination is important to prevent a second wave

Several people have questioned the emergency approval given to the indigenously developed COVID-19 vaccine. They have demanded efficacy data and cast aspersions on the regulatory machinery. Such views will only increase vaccine hesitancy.

It is not the case that the vaccine developed indigenously is being pushed by vested interests, while the international vaccines are great. Questions have been raised about the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines too, which have reported more than 90% efficacy. As Peter Doshi wrote in The BMJ, questions have been raised about the exclusion of individuals from the efficacy analysis for ‘important protocol deviations’; the higher rate of medication in the vaccine arm to prevent side-effects due to reactogenicity; the processes of the primary event adjudication committees, comprising the companies’ own employees; vaccine efficacy in those who already had COVID-19; the non-availability of raw trial data; and so on.

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