AIPSN Demands DCGI Reconsider Approvals for Covaxin and Covishield 06/01/2021
A medic demonstrates the administration of Covaxin with a health worker during a dry run in Srinagar, January 2, 2021. Photo: PTI.
The Drug Controller General of India’s (DCGI) decision to approve Serum Institute’s Covishield and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin v vaccine candidates has provoked a firestorm of criticism in the scientific and medical communities. Following this, the
All India People’s Science Network published a statement demanding that the DCGI reconsider the approvals, particularly to bring them more in line with extant regulations and good scientific practice.
The Wire Science is reproducing the statement in full below.
All-India scientists network seeks re-consideration of vaccine approval
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Representative Image. (Reuters Photo)
MUMBAI: A national network of 40 science movements, the All-India People’s Science Network (AIPSN), has criticized the central government’s hasty regulatory approvals for the Covid-19 vaccines, particularly for Covaxin developed by the Bharat Biotech. In an open statement the network has sought re-consideration of the approval for Covaxin, till the efficacy data is available. The scientists claimed that ‘the government has shot itself in the foot’ by hastily approving the vaccine and that ‘the damage caused to the credibility of the indigenously-developed vaccine and of Indian science may outweigh the prestige that the country may gain abroad’.
Criticism of India's approval of a local COVID-19 vaccine without proof of its efficacy grew on Wednesday after news that a regulatory panel approved the shot just one day after asking the vaccine maker for more evidence it would work.
January 6, 2021
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday allowed the Delhi Science Forum and the Society for Knowledge Commons to become intervenors in a landmark copyright case that threatens to block access to online websites Sci-Hub and LibGen, which provide free access to swathes of scientific and technical literature and articles.
On December 21,2020 three publishing giants sued Sci-Hub and LibGen before the Delhi High Court. The lawsuit which demands that the websites and their mirrors and subdomains, be permanently blocked was filed by Elsevier Ltd., Wiley Periodicals (and its Indian arm), and the American Chemical Society (ACS). The publishers claim exclusive rights to the journals they publish, and argue that both Sci-Hub and LibGen are “rogue websites” and are “vehicles of infringement”. The websites violate various copyright rights by providing free access to original, copyrighted work, the publishers argue.