In Modi’s India, political row erupts over home-grown coronavirus vaccine

Knives are out for the Covaxin vaccine after it was granted emergency approval before final-stage human trials had been completed

Squabbles between politicians from the BJP and other parties added to the simmering unrest among the Muslim and Hindu communities over the vaccine’s alleged contents

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An Indian woman holds a cutout of a syringe depicting the Covid-19 vaccine during New Year’s Eve festivities. Photo: EPA

Published: 5:56pm, 5 Jan 2021Updated: 6:13pm, 5 Jan 2021

In a country where everything from the food you eat to the clothes you wear can be political, India’s Covid-19 vaccine was always going to spark controversy.

So it was on Sunday, when the drug regulator announced the approval of two vaccines for emergency use. One was Oxford-AstraZeneca’s Covishield, while the other was Covaxin from local pharmaceutical firm Bharat Biotech.

The knives were out for Covaxin just hours after the announcement, when it emerged that the home-grown vaccine was granted restricted approval even though final-stage, or phase-three, human trials had not been completed. Health experts have widely criticised the move as premature, pointing out that there is no publicly available data on its efficacy.

The All India Drug Network, a health watchdog, said in a statement that it was “shocked to learn of the recommendation” without phase-three efficacy data or proof that it worked against mutant strains. “Anybody would tell you that this is bad vaccine development science,” co-convenor Malini Aisola said.

Krishna Ella, the chairman and managing director of Bharat Biotech, on Monday defended Covaxin and said the firm was “confident” over its use. He said the company should finish final-phase recruitment within “two or three days” and that Covaxin would feature in two peer reviews in international health journals on January 10. A full readout for the vaccine’s phase-three efficacy data should come between March and October, according to a slide show he presented.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits the Serum Institute of India in November last year to review the progress and distribution process of its Covid-19 vaccine. Photo: EPA

Bharat Biotech had already produced about 20 million doses, Ella said, which would be increased to about 150 million before July or August. The firm had previously said Covaxin – which uses a dead version of the virus – has efficacy rates of at least 60 per cent.

In a tweet, Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the approval of Covaxin and Covishield as a “decisive turning point”, and that it showed the “eagerness of our scientific community to fulfil the dream of Atmanirbhar Bharat”, his policy of a self-reliant India.

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