Camelia Bhattacharyya, Amity University Kolkata
When dealing with treatments relating to human health, we need to take care of two things: i.) the cure should be developed on the basis of all criteria including the majority of the population, and ii.) side-effects should be absent or negligible. Any drug or vaccine to be identified safe, thus needs to have proper documentation proving its safety. The recently developed vaccines are hence undergoing such controversies due to less data on their abilities. The vaccine which has recently undergone a debate regarding its use in India is the COVID vaccine developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca.
In developing countries like India, the matter of healthcare is still under question due to the lack of appropriate funds, and due to a huge ratio of the population belonging to the below poverty level. The vaccine should thus be the one costing the least yet effective on the entire population. This population has high hopes for the Oxford-AstraZeneca while the authority to approve had earlier stated that the amount of data is yet not enough to accept the use of it. The SEC (Subject Expert Committee) of the CDSCO (Central Drugs Standard Control Organization) had put the delivery of the AstraZeneca in short haste. To discuss the matter further, a meeting was called on the first day of 2021 in order to give the EUA (Emergency Use Authorization). Though the same vaccine had received the EUA from the UK to be used by the SII (Serum Institute of India) of Pune on 30/12/2020, the present scenario has changed the scene. The new coronavirus strain has now arrived in India and the vaccine needs to answer a few questions based on its affectability on the new strain.
The meeting was quite satisfactory and the CDSCO has given the permission for use of the vaccine in a controlled manner. Not only the Oxford-AstraZeneca, but the Pfizer and other vaccines like Covaxin were also discussed in the meeting. Only AstraZeneca has received permission to start the vaccine administration even before the dry run which has been scheduled for 2nd January. Reports say that atleast a 5 crore vaccine is now stocked at the SII and can be distributed to different states of the country by the end of the week. The costs have also been decided but those taking it from private pharmaceutical sectors would have to pay an extra cost. The decision on the other vaccines is yet to undergo debate.
Everything now depends on how the population responds to AstraZeneca. Till then let us keep our faiths on science and technology and hope for the best.
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