The news of a man dying, who was a part of the phase III trials of Bharat Biotech vaccine seems to have cheered a certain section of people. These propagandists, instead of appreciating the scientists and researchers who have developed the vaccine, have been somehow trying to discredit the advancement. Unfortunately for that section, preliminary reports have come out to state that the man died after poisoning and not due to the vaccine shot.
The 42-year-old volunteer from Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh had died nearly ten days after he participated in the clinical trial for Covaxin.
Bharat Biotech International Limited, in a statement issued on Saturday, cited cardiorespiratory failure owing to suspected poisoning as the probable cause of death.
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The statement, which referred to the post-mortem report issued by Gandhi Medical College, Bhopal, read, “We would like to state that a volunteer passed away on December 21, 2020, and the death was reported to the People’s College of Medical Sciences & Research Centre by the son of the deceased. The volunteer, at the time of enrolment, had fulfilled all the inclusion and exclusion criteria to be accepted as a participant in the Phase III trial and was reported to be healthy in all the site follow up calls post 7 days of his dosing and no AE’s were observed or reported. The volunteer passed away nine days after the dosing and preliminary reviews by the site indicate that the death is unrelated to the study dosing.”
The statement further added, “We cannot confirm if the volunteer received the study vaccine or a placebo as the study is blinded.”
The statement said, “This SAE has been thoroughly investigated and found to be unrelated to vaccine or placebo. All data and reports on this SAE have been submitted to the Site Ethics Committee, CDSCO and DSMB. We are also continuing to cooperate with the investigation requirements from the Madhya Pradesh Police in Bhopal.”
Underlining the thorough emphasis on safety, the statement said, “However, we would like to reiterate that we conduct our clinical trials in compliance with the study protocol, Good Clinical Practices (GCP) Guidelines as well as with all applicable statutory provisions and the focus at all times is on patient safety. It is this intent on compliance, quality and ethics, that we have enlisted the services of an international contract research organization to conduct our phase III clinical trials.”
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The Modi Government has recently approved the indigenously developed vaccine, ‘Covaxin’ of Bharat Biotech for restricted emergency use in the country.
Elaborating on this development, Madhya Pradesh Health Minister Prabhuram Choudhary said that the post-mortem report is awaited. He said, “It is very unfortunate that the person died, but the initial reports show that his death occurred due to poisoning. The post-mortem report is still awaited. We can say anything only after the final report comes.”
The investigation for the same is going on, with preliminary reports pointing towards poisoning and yet, a section of the people is quick to jump at the worst conclusions. These people, similar to Akhilesh Yadav, who claimed that he will ‘not take the BJP vaccine’ indicate exactly what they think of Indian capabilities. The collective people it seems are just waiting with bated breath to see the vaccine fail. Unfortunately for them, this does not seem to be happening anytime soon.