Target 15th August, Big Question Mark on the Vaccine?

Within 15th August, the COVID-19 vaccine is going to launch in India. As per the sources, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be launching the vaccine from Lal Kila, New Delhi on the coming Independence Day. Bharat Biotech International Limited (BBIL) of Hyderabad in association with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) will work together in the invention process of the COVID vaccine or Co-vaccine. If this becomes successful, then India will be the first country in the world to invent the vaccine for deadly virus COVID-19. The doctors and nurses and other health workers will be vaccinated at first as they are the front liners in the COVID-19 battle.

Yesterday, the HOD of ICMR, Balram Bhargav in a written letter gave permission to 12 health organizations to apply the vaccine on humans for a clinical trial, before launching it commercially. Delhi AIIMS, SUM of Odisha, Visakhapatnam’s King George College, PGIMS of Rohtak, and other eight organizations are allowed to run the clinical tests. The vaccination will be applied to the human volunteers for the clinical tests within 7th July. And the vaccine launch will take place on 15th August- so the organizations will have only five weeks to make everything ready!!!

The whole matter is something unbelievable and impractical in terms of medical science, and that is the reason many experienced doctors, virologists, vaccination experts have shown their anxiety on such an attempt. (Reference: India Today) Dr. Bhargav says in his letter that this matter will be governed by the top officials and in case of any casual approach at any level will be strictly handled. The question is, when it comes to an invention of any vaccination, there are certain steps to be taken under consideration, which itself takes a few months’ time for each such stage whereas, as per ICMR announcement, the vaccination will be launched within 5 weeks! Ex- AIIMS virologist Dr. Pradip Seth, raises questions as to how the vaccination can be invented within just 5 weeks. If we assume that Bharat Biotech has already applied the vaccine in some living creature, then it will take a few months to analyze whether the vaccine works perfectly for that living being and also find out if there are any side-effects of that. Then we should apply the same in some human body and follow the same procedure. Sometimes it may take up to a few years to understand the correct consequences.

Reference:  (Times of India,India Today)