ICMR to allow COVID-19 vaccines with 50% efficacy

The Indian Council for Medical Research approves COVID-19 vaccines with 50-100% efficacy. According to ICMR, no respiratory vaccines have 100% efficacy.

Highlights

According to the World Health Organization, a vaccine should have three things namely safety, efficacy and immunogenicity. Immunogenicity is the ability of a foreign substance to trigger the immune response.

Guidelines

The Central Drugs and Standard Control Organization recently issued draft guidance on COVID-19 vaccines. According to the guidelines, the COVID-19 vaccines that provide immunity to at least 50% of the participants in phase III clinical trials shall be approved. The guidelines framed by CDSCO is in line with that of USFDA and WHO.

Vaccines in India

There are three vaccines that are undergoing human trials in India. They are COVAXIN, Oxford Vaccines and SPUTNIK-V (the Russian Vaccine)

COVAX

Currently, there are more than 169 vaccines under human trial all over the world. The countries are entering into pre-purchase agreements even before the final stage human trials of vaccines are completed. This has led to “Vaccine Nationalism”. Vaccine Nationalism is a term coined by the World Health Organization. The term says that the countries are securing doses of vaccines for their own citizens and prioritizing their own domestic markets.

COVAX has been launched by WHO along with GAVI and CEPI to prevent vaccine nationalism. The programme aims to speed up the search for effective vaccines for all countries. The main objective of the programme is to distribute at least 2 billion doses by the end of 2021.

ACT Accelerator

It is yet another programme launched by the WHO. The other partners that joined the international programme at the launch were France, European Union and The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. ACT Accelerator is Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator. It aims to provide equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, tests, treatments and vaccines.

Month: Current Affairs - September, 2020