Hyderabad-based vaccine maker says not including ICMR in original patent application for Covaxin was ‘inadvertent error’ & ‘confidential agreement between them was not accessible’.
Health ministry points at shortfall in supply of 3 vaccines, for Japanese Encephalitis, Hepatitis B & rotavirus. It also sought reason for delay in letter to Bharat Biotech.
Speaking at International Science Festival in Bhopal, Krishna Ella said iNCOVACC will be launched by 26 Jan and a vaccine for lumpy skin disease, too, will be launched next month.
The Union health ministry said that those who have previously taken Covishield and Covaxin could take the nasal vaccine as a heterologous booster dose.
Official sources clarifeid that masks were not mandatory yet. Congress’s Bharat Jodo Yatra can also continue provided it adhered to Covid protocols, they said.
Medical news site STAT had cited internal documents to allege that Bharat Biotech had taken ‘questionable’ steps under political pressure to speed up development of Covaxin.
Bharat Biotech is believed to have assured Government of India that it will ‘quickly’ reply to WHO about ‘deficiencies found in its manufacturing’ during an inspection last month.
ICMR and Bharat Biotech developed Covaxin together, and MoS Health Bharati Pawar says in written reply that the research body spent Rs 35 crore on its development.
Standing up to America is usually not a personal risk for a leader in India. Any suggestions of foreign pressure unites India behind who they see as leading them in that fight.
COMMENTS