16th January 2021 will undoubtedly go down as one of the biggest days in Indian history as the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine will be given. The Central Drugs and Standards Control Organization (CDSCO) approved not one but two vaccines for restricted emergency use on 2nd January. Covishield, which was based on the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine, and was manufactured by Serum Institute India in Pune was given clearance alongside the Bharat BioTech vaccine – Covaxin. The government intends to provide 30 million doses to healthcare and frontline workers.
I am not going to bore you with all the science behind the vaccines. However, it is said that none of the vaccines have a completed a phase-3 trial which is very important to gauge if the vaccine does work and what are the side-effects of it. Rumours have spread all over the country and many people are questioning the decision to approve both vaccines. A plethora of people want transparency of the data and trial results. Although the government and the CDSCO both say these doses have no or minimal side-effects, people are befuddled right now.
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi put out a statement in support of both the vaccines and asked people not to worry, people asked him to be the first person to take the jab in the country and remove fear amongst the people. Opposition party leaders and representatives are making their voices heard against the vaccines. Dr. Shashi Tharoor, a Congress MP, tweeted that this approval was premature and can be dangerous. Anand Sharma was also one of the leaders that questioned the approval. Many people also say that BJP shouldn’t consider vaccines as a way of getting people to vote for them. It is therefore fair to say that politics has come to the fore and it will be interesting to see whether these leaders take the vaccine or not. However, they do raise a strong point. Will the vaccine be a way to lure people into voting for BJP? If both the vaccines are 100% safe, why aren’t the results of the trials published? Are there enough doses that can suffice a population of 1.3 billion? The government has been bombarded with these questions over the past week and everybody wants answers.
However, at the end of the day, these vaccines are a ray of hope for most Indians. Hope that everything goes back to normal. Hope that they recoup all the money lost due to the virus. Hope that COVID-19 goes away once and for all. Having a positive attitude now is the least we can do to respect the frontline workers and stay happy in these unprecedented times.
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