Cautioning that the COVID pandemic is far from over though the world now seems to be closer to getting a vaccine, Chief Scientist at the World Health Organisation (WHO) Soumya Swaminathan said, “Though there is light at the end of the tunnel, the road ahead is still dark and long.”
Participating in a panel discussion, “The People Need to Know: The Challenges of Developing a COVID-19 Vaccine” on Friday, Dr. Swaminathan said, “The next few months are going to be critical and tough for many countries and we have to keep ourselves safe while waiting for a vaccine. Luckily, so far we have seen few vaccines that have met the benchmark of 50% efficacy in the interim results. That’s a very good news.’’
She added that the WHO is working towards continuously providing accessible and reliable information during this pandemic and explained that the Organisation realised early on that there was a lot of “mis-information related to the virus and now the vaccine.”
“We've been working very closely with social media and tech companies because we recognise that along with the pandemic, there has been something that we're calling the infodemic. It is important that we communicate with people and also listen and address their concerns. Majority of the people are keen on the vaccine and want to come out of this on-going pandemic,” she said at the 5th Global Technology Summit, organised by think-tank Carnegie India and Ministry of External Affairs.
Legal challenges
Speaking about the need to protect vaccine manufactures from frivolous lawsuits Dr. Soumya added “it’s only right that vaccine manufacturers are indemnified for a certain period of time.”
“And for Advance Market Commitment (AMC) countries, we're also creating a compensation fund, so that individual countries don't have to get into legal negotiation with every individual,” she said.
Also seeking government protection against “frivolous lawsuits” during the pandemic, Adar Poonawalla, CEO of the Serum Institute of India (SII) who also participated in the discussion noted that “these lawsuits would bankrupt manufactures”.
“We need the government to step in and protect us as the U.S. government has done during this on-going phase of pandemic,”he said.
Gamble on technology
Explaining how SII opted to partner with and work towards a COVID-vaccine early on in the pandemic Mr. Poonawalla said: “If we rewind to the beginning of the pandemic, I had two choices — either we sit on the sidelines and wait for vaccines to prove itself in phase 3 trials, or we commit heavily in partnerships, tech transfers and re-jigging of facilities to make COVID-19 vaccines. It was a big gamble when we chose to produce millions of doses in advance. We chose the technology carefully with the criteria of affordable pricing.’’
Stating that his company believed in the equal access of vaccine to all Mr. Poonawalla said people now need to be cautious for the next few years till the country is able to vaccinate majority of its population or attain herd immunity against the virus.
“Along with vaccines we need to keep COVID-safety measure in mind,” he said.
Also participating in the discussion John N. Nkengasong, Director, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), said, “Timely access to vaccines against COVID-19 is really a human rights issue. It must be characterised by the shared values that we have of dignity, fairness, equality and respect.”
