DNA Special: Opposition's politics over indigenously manufactured COVID-19 vaccine

Even as the country is rejoicing after the DCGI approved emergency use of two indigenous vaccines against the Coronavirus, the Opposition Congress is raising doubts on the approval granted to Bharat Biotech’s vaccine against Covid-19 while its third phase trial is still underway. Today, we will analyse the efficacy of the vaccine by showing you how Zee News reporter Pooja Makkar on Monday (January 4) became the first female journalist to get coronavirus vaccine, Covaxin, in India. 

Pooja Makkar decided to undergo the vaccination as "it was necessary to instill confidence among common people that the vaccine is fully safe."

Covishield is developed by Oxford University in collaboration with AstraZeneca. The Serum Institute of India is its manufacturing and trial partner. While Covaxin is India’s first indigenous vaccine against Covid-19. It has been developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research and the National Institute of Virology. Congress is raising doubts on the efficacy of the Covaxin because it is indigenously developed because its leaders feel anything made in India lacks in some parameters and is not safe for use.

Covaxin is made in India and can be cheaper in terms of price, so the Congress and other opposition parties are suspicious of its efficacy and these parties now want to convey this suspicion to more and more people in a short time like a virus. They are doing this so that people who are infected with this suspected virus refuse to get a vaccine made in India.

On the other hand, the government is leaving no stone unturned to make the vaccine against the deadly coronavirus to be made available to people soon.

Here too the Opposition is playing politics over the vaccines.

Whatever may be the subject in India, politics is entered into. You can say that the leaders of our country have been addicted to politics on issues of public interest and there is no vaccine for addiction. The vaccine, which can save millions of lives, has also made the Congress and other opposition parties a political issue. And today, these topics have become favourite for all parties

Pooja has been given a sheet to fulfill the points asked about her experience. She has also been provided with a helpline number to contact AIIMS in case she confronted any problem in the coming days.

After 28 days, she will get another shot of Covaxin as this needed twice to remain safe against the deadly pandemic.  Pooja remained on the frontline while covering all aspects related to the deadly virus.

The opposing parties are calling the vaccine the BJP's Vaccine.

Let us explain this to you with an example:

BCG Vaccine was launched in India in the year 1948. This vaccine protects children from TB disease. At that time, Jawaharlal Nehru was the prime minister of the country.

Polio Vaccine was started in the year 1978. Then there was the Janata Party government, and Morarji Desai was the prime minister of the country.

In 2010, the swine flu vaccine was introduced during PM Manmohan Singh’s term. But there was no politics then.