If the news was all Covid-19-related doom and gloom for the better part of 2020, the last couple of weeks have been awash with optimistic headlines. Several vaccine candidates have been reported to show potential that exceeds expectations.
India has not been immune to this excitement. The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine that the country is betting on for the early rounds of immunisation has shown fairly promising results too.
The Pune-based Serum Institute of India, which is the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer,has tied up with the University of Oxford and the British-Swedish company AstraZeneca to commercially produce and market this vaccine in India if and when it is approved.
But allegations that surfaced late last week concerning possible side-effects of this vaccine may have punctured some of the initial euphoria. Public health activists say that the seeming lack of transparency that they believe the episode reflects could result in public distrust and hurt…