Homegrown Covid-19 vaccine, Covaxin has been under scrutiny since day 1 with many raising questions on transparency in data of clinical trials. Dr Krishna Ella, founder of Bharat Biotech that makes Covaxin believes the criticism is unfair. “Some people think Indian companies are soft targets and aything done in other parts of the world is gold standard”, he says.
When asked by ET Now whether he thought the WHO was putting Covaxin under more scrutiny than others, Dr Ella said, “Perhaps, Yes. Earlier they had a one stage committee for clinical trials, we had two stage committee. If they ask more questions, it is good for us”.
Ella said it was not about the process but the WHO might have got influenced by a lot of what was said by negativists in the country about the vaccine. He said the criticism that it was a “Modi vaccine” also got the process delayed.
Covaxin was assessed on exactly the same criteria as other vaccines, the World Health Organisation told ET, refuting the claims of Bharat Biotech’s chief Krishna Ella that Covaxin faced an intensive scrutiny by the WHO.
The WHO said that the Emergency Use Listing (EUL) is “a neutral, technically rigorous and non-political process, with independent regulatory experts contributing to evaluations and advising WHO”.
According to the UN health agency, Covaxin was assessed according to the exact same criteria as other vaccines, which includes review of data on quality, safety, efficacy, a risk management plan and programmatic suitability.
