Transparency the watchword as India begins COVID-19 vaccination

Just when India is rolling up its sleeves to begin mass vaccination of frontline warriors against the coronavirus, politicisation of the worst kind came from the Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav. He dissed the programme and refused to let his party participate, characterising it as BJP’s vaccine. Hours later, National Conference leader Omar Abdullah called Akhilesh out, saying the vaccine belongs to humanity and not to any individual party, adding he will definitely take the jab when his turn comes.

Remember, India would have defeated polio much earlier had vested interests not created a scare against its universal vaccination, insinuating that it was a population control tool to make the recipients impotent. Islamic scholars appear okay with the Covid jab even if it contains pork gelatine, not buying into the nonsense of labelling it after a political party.

Another needless controversy arose from the apparent haste in regulatory approval to Bharat Biotech’s vaccine candidate on the basis of its decent first and second phase results as its third phase is currently underway. Fingers were pointed at the Centre for pushing the vaccine candidate through despite the small sample size in phases 1 and 2, to give itself bragging rights for developing the first homegrown jab.

Heavens wouldn’t have fallen had the regulator decided to wait for a few more weeks for the outcome of the third phase to be published after peer review. Leapfrogging that critical step has made its decision appear dodgy. Why would frontline workers want to take Bharat Biotech’s candidate despite insufficient data on its efficacy?

Would they have the liberty to choose, since the Oxford University’s jab was greenlighted a day earlier? As the Oxford one was put through the wringer by the UK’s regulator, we know its performance indicators and that its muddled testing did pass muster eventually.

Which brings us to the question of transparency. Let alone Bharat Biotech’s candidate sneaking in, we don’t even know if the Centre has placed advance orders for any vaccine and at what cost. Also, the dosage of the first Oxford shot, half or full, and the gap between two jabs, four weeks or 12 as decided by the UK, is yet unclear. Confidence building requires full clarity.