On Saturday, news of BJP leader and Haryana Home and Health Minister Anil Vij testing positive for COVID-19 spread like wildfire, even as a large section of Indian media put on naked display their lack of basic scientific temperament and an undying thirst of spreading fear, panic and misinformation throughout the airwaves of the country. Anil Vij testing positive for COVID-19 is certainly significant, as he was administered a ‘vaccine shot’ of Covaxin on November 20 as part of the phase III trials being conducted by Bharat Biotech across the country, in which close to 28,000 volunteers are taking part. Almost instantly, panic spread through social media on how the vaccine candidate was in fact a grand failure.
A concerted campaign of sorts continues to be run by certain individuals, who are doubting the ‘efficacy’ and ‘efficiency’ of Covaxin without an iota of data to back them up, of course. For such individuals and for the Indian media particularly, we intend to offer a wholesome read which will knock some scientific and common sense into them.
First of all, Anil Vij testing positive for COVID-19 is not in the minutest manner unprecedented, leave alone a failure of the vaccine candidate. Bharat Biotech, as per its own statement, is conducting randomised, double-blinded and double-dosed phase III trials. Additionally, the vaccine developer has also advised all its volunteers to continue following COVID-protocols, hand hygiene, and mask-wearing. This, because being a part of the trials does not make all volunteers immune to the virus. A slight portion of the volunteers might still contract the virus, which will ultimately figure in the efficiency data of the vaccine after the end of the trials.
Covaxin is a double-dose regime, which means the actual effects of the vaccine will only be seen two weeks/14 days after the second dose is administered to the volunteer. The second dose itself will be administered 28 days after the first shot. Anil Vij has tested positive merely a week after being given the first dose of Covaxin, which is in no way a sufficient time for the vaccine to trigger an immune response against the virus.
In the absence of a vaccine-triggered immune response, it is very much possible that Anil Vij might have contracted the virus right before or a few days after being administered the first shot. It is also very likely that Vij has tested positive owing to the vaccine itself, for what is a vaccine comprised of but inactivated virus strains meant to trigger a tremendous natural immune response to the disease? Therefore, Anil Vij’s symptoms of COVID-19 might very well be the first vaccine shot at work, helping build immunity against SARS-COV-2, the COVID-19 disease-causing virus strain.
Now, all the above scenarios are contingent upon the fact that Anil Vij received the actual Covaxin shot. Chances of that happening, however, are only 50 per cent, since Bharat Biotech has confirmed that its Phase III trials are double-blinded. This means that Anil Vij might have been given a placebo, and not the actual vaccine shot. If that is the case, there is absolutely nothing surprising about him testing positive for Covid-19. A placebo is something that seems to be a “real” medical treatment, but it isn’t. It could be a pill, a shot, or some other type of “fake” treatment. All placebos do not contain an active substance meant to affect health.
A placebo is aimed at the psychological benefit of the patient, rather than for any physiological effect. Further, a 50 per cent blinded placebo administration to volunteers also helps researchers and scientists equate the well being of those who were vaccinated with the actual shot, with those who were not. It helps them study the vaccine’s side-effects in a better manner, and also increases the vaccine’s efficacy.
Therefore, for anyone to judge Covaxin and its effectiveness in helping battle COVID-19 only by looking at the case of Anil Vij testing positive despite being administered the vaccine is a stupidity of the highest order. The world is at a crucial juncture with respect to the pandemic. Vaccines are gradually emerging across the world. What we need right now is hope, and neither misinformation nor panic. Basic scientific knowledge could go a long way in helping humanity battle the disease of idiocy.