A shot at transparency

Approval to Covaxin raises many questions

A day after the Indian drug regulator’s announcement that it has approved the Covid-19 vaccines manufactured by Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech, serious questions have been raised regarding the transparency and credibility of the approval process. It is critical for the government to address these doubts in a transparent and upfront manner instead of leaving the public to rely on random statements from different players in the system. The doubts began with the press conference when the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) read a brief statement, declined to take questions, but declared both vaccines “110 per cent