Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recently announced the Government’s decision to roll out two more vaccines soon in India. This is much needed to cater to India’s vast population.
Given that safety and efficacy will be key to this decision, public health and medical experts underline the key elements that the Indian Government should carefully consider.
Firstly, safety and efficacy can’t be compromised at any cost. Of 150 vaccine candidates, there are very few vaccines that have cleared the last phase of clinical trials, which prove the efficacy.
Interestingly, the Lancet, one of the renowned medical journals, has published the outcomes of phase III clinical trials of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V.
The journal states that the two-dose treatment of Sputnik V administered 21 days apart demonstrated efficacy of 91.6% against Covid-19. Sputnik V generated a robust humoral and cell mediated immune response.
This is timely and will support government in evidence-based decision making, as it looks to approve two more vaccines.
Meanwhile, the medical experts too have welcomed additional data and positive outcome about the safety and efficacy of Sputnik V in different subgroups.
“The decision of the Indian government to consider approval for more vaccines is a much needed and timely move, to 30 crore population. Genova Pharmaceutical, Zydus Cadilla and Sputnik V are among the candidates most likely to get approvals soon. I have heard positive outcomes for most of these candidates that gives me a lot of confidence,” says Dr. Sanjiv Kumar, Chairperson of the Indian Academy of Public Health and Indian Alliance of Patients Group, Former Senior Advisor at UNICEF and Former Director at IIHMR.