A Setback For The AstraZeneca-Oxford University Covid Vaccine
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
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By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2020-09-12 08:47:41
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Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
View all posts by this Author
There are no shortcuts in developing new vaccines or drugs. This fact was forcefully brought in focus when AstraZeneca and Oxford University suspended the ongoing Phase 3 trials of their Covid vaccine after a volunteer in the UK developed inflammation in her spinal cord. Serum Institute, which was conducting the trials for the said vaccine in India and was getting ready to produce it on a huge scale, has also stopped the trials. This also shows that the race to develop the vaccine is unholy, especially the US announcement that the vaccine will be available for mass administration from the first week of November.
The coronavirus pandemic has brought untold miseries upon the human race. It has brought economies to a standstill and has caused severe loss of production and income due to lockdowns. Governments all over the world are grappling to provide relief to people whose jobs are gone and income is squeezed. In such a scenario, it is important that a vaccine or a drug to treat the disease is developed at the earliest. But does that mean that pharmaceuticals companies, guided by the profit motive, will throw all norms to the wind?
Developing a new vaccine or drug is a long drawn out process and can take anywhere between 9 to 18 months or longer before it can be certified as safe and effective. There are numerous stages of trials. Volunteers are needed for each stage. After every stage, the results need to be collated, studied and submitted for regulatory approvals. The next stage can be started only after approval of the results of the earlier stage. There are no shortcuts.
Although vaccines and drugs for all new diseases have had their share of setbacks and the time taken to release them in the market has many times overshot the initially expected deadline, the Covid vaccine is being awaited expectantly all over the world. Russia has already released one in the market. But all other developers are in various stages of trial. The AstraZeneca-Oxford University was considered a frontrunner. But the unfortunate hiccup in the trails will now be vetted by an independent panel. The trials will resume only after the cause is identified and corrective measures are taken. This effectively pushes the vaccine back by at least three months. In any case, is it not better to receive a safe and effective vaccine later rather than experiment with a half-baked one now, one that can endanger lives?
