New Delhi , July 5 : The Ministry of Science and Technology today removed the part “a vaccine is unlikely to be ready for mass use before 2021” from the official press statement.
The ministry in the earlier release said 11 out of 140 vaccine candidates have entered the human trials but it’s unlikely that any of these will be ready for mass use before next year.
“Along with the two Indian vaccines, COVAXIN and ZyCov-D, the world over, 11 out of 140 vaccine candidates have entered the human trials. None of these vaccines is unlikely to be ready for mass use before 2021,” the ministry said in a statement.
The statement comes in wake of the controversy over Indian Council Medical Research (ICMR) Director-General, Balram Bhargava’s letter to 12 principal investigators instructing them to fast-track approvals to initiate clinical trials of Bharat Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine with an aim to launch by August 15.
The ICMR also issued a clarification in which it defended the August 15 target for launching the indigenous vaccine, saying the process is “in accordance with the globally accepted norms to fast-track the vaccine development”.
“ICMR’s process is exactly in accordance with the globally accepted norms to fast-track the vaccine development for diseases of pandemic potential wherein human and animal trials can continue in parallel,” the ICMR said in the clarification.
