Vij participated in a double-blind trial—neither he nor the person administering the shot knew whether the shot contained the vaccine or a placebo.The controversy over Haryana minister Anil Vij testing positive for Covid-19 days after participating in the clinical trials for Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin underscores the need for the government and civil society to create basic vaccine-awareness among the masses. This will not only help battle vaccine scepticism but also prevent risky behaviour by trial participants/vaccine recipients. Vij testing positive was breathlessly covered by the media—his volunteering for the trial had been covered extensively too—without accompanying explainers on how he could have contracted the virus. The rather simplistic narrative of vaccine failure in the immediate aftermath makes for a dangerous cocktail along with ‘pandemic fatigue’ and confusion over some other vaccine-trials (the Oxford vaccine results announcement/unintended…
