India’s regulators approved AstraZeneca’s vaccine with the standard regimen of full two doses between shots, which is 62.1% effective based on phase III clinical trial results published by the company in the Lancet in December.By Dr Debkishore Gupta
The emergency use approval to two ‘made in India’ Covid-19 vaccines is a historical moment for the country given that these are the first vaccines to get the green signal and a step towards the inoculation drive of some 250 million people. Unfortunately, the decision has been received with mixed feelings, and rightly so. The move by the government has raised several pertinent questions regarding the whole approval process and whether there exist enough data for grant of approval, especially in the case of Covaxin by Bharat Biotech that has received criticism for having inadequate trial data. The fact that top health officials have made major claims about how Covaxin might perform for mutations of the virus even though efficacy…
