Bharat Biotech, Serum Institute of India and Pfizer have approached the Comptroller General of Medicines of India to request an emergency use authorization for their COVID-19 vaccine candidates.
A certain section of people may hesitate to take the COVID-19 vaccine, but not biotech industry veteran Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, who said Wednesday that she will be vaccinated although its durability is not known for now. The CEO of Biocon, a major Bengaluru-based biotech company, supported the unprecedented speed of getting the vaccine from the development stage to the approval process.
“This is an unprecedented pandemic and extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures,” Mazumdar-Shaw told PTI in an interview.
“I think a regulatory speed is necessary to review and approve.”
Bharat Biotech, Serum Institute of India and Pfizer have approached the Comptroller General of Medicines of India to request an emergency use authorization for their COVID-19 vaccine candidates.
“Due to the urgent need for the vaccine, they (the vaccine manufacturers) are focusing on safety and efficacy, but they do not have data at this time on the durability of the response and, if there is any, the long-term side effects. “, according to her.
Mazumdar-Shaw, who has been named among the 100 most powerful women in the world by Forbes, who described her as “the richest woman in India who made herself,” argued that if you look at the risk-benefit ratio, the The risk of not approving a vaccine is far greater than the type of risks associated with any side effects.
The safety and efficacy data is pretty good for all vaccine candidates, but the only unanswered question so far is how long they will provide protection, he said.
The risk of waiting for the answer to the durability question is too high.
Even if the vaccine provides protection for a short time, it is worth it, he argued.
Calling the pandemic a “public health catastrophe,” Mazumdar-Shaw said there is nothing wrong with the government putting pressure on regulatory bodies to review vaccine candidates.
In a certain section of people concerned about the side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine, he said that they should not feel this way, adding that it is not unsafe, but the only thing one cannot know as of now is how long it is.
“Right now, as a person, I am not concerned about the safety and efficacy (of the COVID-19 vaccine). I am more concerned: Will it protect me long enough?
“If they asked me if I’m going to get vaccinated, I’d say ‘yes’; because whatever it is, I’d like to at least protect myself
I am one of those lucky people who developed natural immunity because I contracted COVID-19. But would you recommend that my family take it? I would say ‘yes’, “said the 67-year-old.
Mazumdar-Shaw, who has more than four decades of experience in biotechnology, stressed that there is a need to allay people’s fears about the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines and remove doubts about vaccines.
“It is important to build that trustworthiness and awareness by saying that vaccines are safe and over time we will know how effective they are in terms of durability,” he added.
Noting that “so many” vaccines are being developed due to the pandemic, Mazumdar-Shaw said that within a year it will be known which is more effective than others.
“… we have no choice. We need to get back to normal. I think taking a safe and effective vaccine …
(even if) with limited protection, you should take it. That’s how I see it, ”he said.
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