Coronavirus: Doctor clears air on vaccine deadline
Nobody knows where the trial of coronavirus vaccine might lead to, says the doctor who published an article in Government of India’s official communication website.
Another twist in the deadline for vaccine controversy erupted after the Government of India’s official communication website published an article on vaccines, and edited a sentence on the timeline in a matter of hours.
This has sparked another controversy on the backdrop of a row following a letter issued by ICMR Director-General, Dr Balram Bhargava, about the vaccine to be ready by Bharat Biotech by August 15. Dr TV Venkateswaran, author of the article, however, cleared the air on the controversy on Monday.
“The main purpose was to present the vaccine research that is going on in India — two candidates that have moved into the stage of human trials... How vaccines work. The sentence was edited by PIB I don’t mind that for basic reasons. That’s not the main purpose of my article,” he told India Today TV.
“May be PIB thought this gives some kind of a firm date. May be they would have thought why should we get into a firm date issue, since it is a trial. Nobody knows where the trial might lead to. I wrote that it might be available for public use from next year. 2021, it would be possible for India. But, we have over 120 crore people in India. It is not going to be easy,” the science writer for Vigyan Prasar added.