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Updated April 14th, 2021 at 11:23 IST

Rahul Gandhi claims victory for himself as India fasttracks foreign-approved Covid vaccine

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi took a dig at the Centre over the Emergency Usage Authorisation (EUA) given to foreign-made and approved COVID-19 vaccines

Reported by: Koushik Narayanan
Rahul Gandhi
Credits: AP / PTI | Image:self
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Congress MP Rahul Gandhi took a dig at the Centre over the Emergency Usage Authorisation (EUA) fast-tracking given to foreign-made & approved COVID-19 vaccines just a day after India made the decision. The Centre's move to fast-track the EUAs for COVID-19 vaccines developed and approved abroad comes after Russia's Sputnik V received the SEC & DCGI's nod earlier on Monday and Tuesday for emergency use. The fast-tracking applies to vaccines approved in the US, Europe, the UK and Japan, as per the government's release.

Reacting to India's move to bring in more vaccines to tackle the surge in COVID-19 cases and to make most of its world-leading vaccine production capacity, Rahul Gandhi took a dig at the Centre over its vaccine approach, seemingly taking credit for the decision. It is pertinent to point out that prior to the EUA given to Russia's Sputnik V, India had approved the emergency usage of indigenously developed Covaxin from Bharat Biotech, and Oxford-AstraZeneca's Covishield, manufactured by Serum Institute of India. Rahul Gandhi has on numerous occasions made to take credit for India's actions against Covid, referring to a tweet he had posted in February 2020 spelling doom for the country. He has since declared the government's lockdown in 2020 a failure and been criticised for it.

Rahul Gandhi mocks India's vaccine approach

Rahul Gandhi has appeared to claim vindication by sharing a quote that's widely attributed to Mahatma Gandhi, though he's hardly specific about what novel idea he proposed that caused people to laugh at him and why, when or how he 'wins' with the country fast-tracking approvals for more vaccines.

Earlier on Monday, Rahul Gandhi took a dig at the Centre over the Subject Expert Committee's approval of COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V. Attributing the SEC's action to his letter addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi dated April 8, he reminded the Centre that the opposition is capable of making "good suggestions". The Congress leader had also claimed that India faced a vaccine shortage and demanded the export of vaccines to other counties to be stopped at once. 

Rahul Gandhi had made these suggestions in his letter

  • Provide vaccine suppliers with necessary resources to increase manufacturing capacity
  • Place an immediate moratorium on vaccine export
  • Fast track approval of other vaccines as per norms and guidelines
  • Open up vaccination to those who need it
  • Double central allocation for vaccine procurement from the existing Rs.35,000 crore
  • Give state governments a greater say in vaccine procurement and distribution
  • Provide direct income support to the vulnerable sections in the disastrous second wave

Centre fast-tracks EUA for foreign COVID-19 vaccines produced & approved abroad

"The matter of augmenting the Basket of Vaccines available for fighting the pandemic as well as to accelerate the pace & coverage of domestic vaccination programme was discussed in the 23rd meeting of the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 (NEGVAC) held on 11th April 2021, chaired by Dr. V K Paul, Member (Health), Niti Aayog. The decision is expected to facilitate quicker access to such foreign vaccines by India & would encourage imports including import of bulk drug material, optimal utilization of domestic fill and finish capacity etc., which will in-turn provide a fillip to vaccine manufacturing capacity and total vaccine availability for domestic," the release said.

As per a top government source's word to ANI, India will receive vaccines from 4 additional manufacturers by the third quarter this year, apart from the three so far. These include Johnson & Johnson's vaccine (with Biological E), Novovax (with SII), Zydus Cadila's vaccine and an intranasal vaccine by Bharat Biotech.

"The NEGVAC, after comprehensive deliberation, recommended that vaccines for COVID-19, which have been developed & are being manufactured in foreign countries and which have been granted emergency approval for restricted use by USFDA, EMA, UK MHRA, PMDA Japan or which are listed in WHO(Emergency Use Listing) may be granted emergency use approval in India, mandating the requirement of post-approval parallel bridging clinical trial in place of conduct of local clinical trial as per the provisions prescribed under Second Schedule of the New Drugs & Clinical Trials Rules 2019." 

"Further, the first 100 beneficiaries of such foreign vaccines shall be assessed for seven days for safety outcomes before it is rolled out for further immunization programme within the country", the government's press release read. 

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Published April 14th, 2021 at 11:23 IST

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