Kathmandu, January 7. Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Biotech, Krishna Ella has defended their covid vaccine- Covaxin at a virtual press conference. He has said that the vaccine is being politicized and the launch of the vaccine is a great step for innovation and development in India.

The vaccine has been launched in its clinical trial mode which has confused most scientists. Ella said, “Approval in clinical trial mode means we don’t need placebo. It is open label where we keep vaccinating people.” Covaxin has been approved for emergency use by the Indian drug regulator. Ella has claimed that the vaccine is made in accordance Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO)’s 2019 guideline on emergency approval.

The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has guidelines that states that vaccines will be approved only if they show 50% efficacy, MD Ella said they were confident that their vaccine had figures above that. Their efficacy data is said to be out by March, although they have been blamed for lack of transparency for that matter.

He added,”India can innovate. It’s not a copycat country. We don’t deserve a backlash; we do everything systematically and yet we get bashing from the news media. A company has branded our vaccine as water.It hurts as a scientist and we don’t deserve that. Why is nobody questioning the UK trials? Because, Indian trials are easy to be bashed.”

He has said that 200 million doses of the vaccines are ready and the number will reach 150 million by July-August. Bharat Biotech has been working in the field of vaccine since a long time. It has developed vaccines for H1N1, Rotavirus, Rabies, typhoid among others. MD Ella said that the World Health Organization (WHO) called their typhoid vaccine a major breakthrough, therefore they should not criticize them saying that they don’t know how to do clinical research.

Bharat Biotech has developed Covaxin, India’s indigenous COVID-19 vaccine, in cooperation with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) – National Institute of Virology (NIV).