Goal to release COVID vaccine by I-Day unrealistic: Indian Academy of Sciences

Even though the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) is chasing the August 15 deadline to come up with India’s indigenous COVID-19 vaccine, the Indian Academy of Sciences has called it an “unfeasible” and “unrealistic” goal.

The institute’s reaction comes a day after the Ministry of Science and Technology first published that “a vaccine is unlikely to be ready for mass use before 2021” in an official press release, and then deleted it.

A group of scientists from the Bengaluru-based institute have said that although there is an urgent need for a vaccine to arrest the spread of COVID-19, the development of a vaccine that could be administered to human beings needs staggered clinical trials.

“Administrative approvals can be expedited, but the “scientific processes of experimentation and data collection have a natural time span that cannot be hastened without compromising standards of scientific rigour,” IASc said in a statement on Monday (July 6).

Related news: ICMR announces launch of Covaxin by Aug 15, scientists warn of risk

“However, as a body of scientists- including many who are engaged in vaccine development – IASc strongly believes that the announced timeline is unfeasible. This timeline has raised unrealistic hopes and expectations in the minds of our people,” the statement said.

ICMR’s director general Balram Bhargava on July 2 had written to 12 institutions, asking them to begin the clinical trials of Covaxin, the COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed by Bharat Biotech. The same day the ICMR had announced the government’s decision to have the vaccine ready for public health use by August 15, much to the surprise of the scientific fraternity. Interestingly, Covaxin had the clearance for phase 1 and 2 of clinical trials only on June 29, just a couple of days before the ICMR chief’s announcement.

Health experts on the other hand have warned against rushing the trials. IASc has said clinical trials involve three phases (evaluation of safety, efficacy and side effects at different dose levels and confirmation of safety and efficacy in thousands of healthy people) before it is released.

It said that the human immune system takes several weeks to respond to the treatment and data should not be collected prematurely.

“Moreover, data collected in one phase must be adequately analyzed before the next phase can be initiated. If the data of any phase is unacceptable then the clinical trial is required to be immediately aborted,” the statement said.

Related news: Centre says approval for vaccine human trials marks beginning of the end

Along with India’s Covaxin and ZyCov-D, across the world 11 out of 140 vaccine candidates have entered human trials.