MADURAI: Madurai MP
Su Venkatesan has raised serious concerns on
social media, over the approval given to the
Covid-19 vaccine without proper trials and protocols that ensure safety and efficiency. He called the urgency of the BJP government ‘childlike’.
“There is no doubt a vaccine is the need of the hour. However, it should not be approved without the completion of the third phase trial. The
World Health Organisation (WHO) as well as the government of India had clear cut guidelines for conducting vaccine trials and approving them,” he told TOI.
According to the former ideologist representative in the Siddha ethical committee member from 2014 to 2016, there are three ethical committees, one each for allopathy, Siddha, and Ayurveda. Representatives of each committee include scholars, surgeons, academicians, philosophers,
legal experts, and ideologists.
Venkatesan said the first approval is given by the committee to commence the trial. The second approval is given once again, based on the result of the trial. “Since the third phase trial is incomplete they would not have obtained the approval of the Data and Safety Monitoring Board,” he said.
He said the hurried approval would question the confidence people have in vaccines in general and added that “A wrong vaccine could also result in the mutation of the virus."
The MP called the approval a mockery of the government statutory bodies, research institutions, the government's rules and guidelines. He said it is too early to call the vaccine 110 percent safe as the claim has been criticized by experts globally.
Venkatesan said he is writing to the union minister of health and family welfare, science and technology Harsh Vardhan to properly conduct trials as per the protocols before it is approved and used for the vaccination drives. “There is no harm if it takes a month or two,” he concluded.