How good is the progress on the vaccine front? I understand Serum vaccines have had some bad side effects on humans?

Let me clarify that the issue pertains to one single case in the midst of the testing of the Covishield vaccine by AstraZeneca and Oxford Research, which is being manufactured and marketed in India by Serum Institute. The individual had claimed side effects from the trials.

The Health Ministry of India has clearly assured that the adverse event in the AstraZeneca / Oxford vaccine trials would not in any way impact the vaccine trials being conducted by Serum Institute in India. This was a case that is acceptable as per the probability theory.

Serum has clarified that this would not have any material impact on the vaccine rollout plans of the company. The issue had actually arisen after a person to whom the Astra Vaccine was administered complained of adverse reaction. He even demanded compensation of Rs.5 crore.

It needs to be remembered that in any vaccine trial, there are some cases that will backfire and some cases where it may not be effective. There is a very set and established protocol for such activities with all the checks and balances taken into account.

However, it is the regulator who would eventually take a call on the correlation between the vaccine and the actual repercussion, based on data shared. ICMR also admitted that side-effects do occur. Serum India has refuted that the effect was related to the vaccine administered.