Imitating other countries not in our best interest: Virologists on vax nod

VELLORE: Referring to the central government allowing vaccines approved by other countries to be used in India as mere imitation, which was not in the best interests of the country, renowned virologist Dr T Jacob John said, “Imitators can never be innovators and inventors as we lack autonomy.”

Citing an example, he said reactions to different vaccines was based on the auto immune system reacting to the platelets and it would vary geographically. He said when the polio vaccine was introduced, European nations did not have any reaction to the vaccine after three doses, whereas there were cases in Uttar Pradesh where children were reacting even after thirty doses.

Asked if the central government opting for various vaccines was a sign of desperation, Dr Jacob John said, “Desperation means that a person has a conscience but in India’s case we blindly imitate other nations not knowing if it is in our best interests. When European nations opted for a lockdown, we blindly followed suit and we know what happened to the economy because of it.”

Talking about Centre saying it had enough stock of the vaccine but choosing vaccines approved by other nations simultaniously, Jacob John said, “Unless we do our own studies, we will never know how a vaccine will perform on Indian population. Reactions to a vaccine vary widely.”

Leading CMC virologist Dr Gagandeep Kang told DT Next, “WHO has been recommending regulatory reliance from early on. We should take a call to lay out our path and stick to it, as I thought we were going to do when the drug controllers guidance to companies was issued in September 2020, but then in January we ignored that guidance.”

Unless we do our own studies, we will never know how a vaccine will perform on Indian population. Reactions to a vaccine vary widely T Jacob John, Virologist