Bharat Biotech achieved a milestone in indigenous vaccinology: Karnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar

The minister's statement comes a day after Bharat Biotech Director Krishna Ella came down on his critics over allegations that the Hyderabad-based vaccine maker lacks data of Covaxin.

PTI

January 05, 2021 / 14:57 IST

Karnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar on Tuesday asked people to refrain from unwarranted criticism of Covaxin's Phase-3 trial as it discredited the hard work of the scientists.

The minister's statement comes a day after Bharat Biotech Director Krishna Ella came down on his critics over allegations that the Hyderabad-based vaccine maker lacks data of Covaxin.

"I think people should have the patience to read the internet and look at what our articles are," Ella had said. In a series of tweets, Dr Sudhakar stated that Bharat Biotech was a reputed company with credibility and experience.

"Covaxin's phase-3 clinical trial involves 24,000 volunteers & it's data will be available soon. I humbly appeal to everyone, not as a Health Minister but as a fellow medical professional, to refrain from unwarranted criticism which discredits the hard work of our scientists," Sudhakar tweeted on Tuesday.

The health minister said Bharat Biotech is a globally reputed company which has the credibility and experience of developing 16 vaccines including for influenza H1N1, Rotavirus, Japanese Encephalitis, Rabies, Chikungunya, Zika and the world's first tetanus-toxoid conjugated vaccine for Typhoid.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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Bharat Biotech achieved a milestone in indigenous vaccinology: Karnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar

The minister's statement comes a day after Bharat Biotech Director Krishna Ella came down on his critics over allegations that the Hyderabad-based vaccine maker lacks data of Covaxin.

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Bharat Biotech achieved a milestone in indigenous vaccinology: Karnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar

The minister's statement comes a day after Bharat Biotech Director Krishna Ella came down on his critics over allegations that the Hyderabad-based vaccine maker lacks data of Covaxin.

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