Dr Fauci makes big statement on India's role in Covid vaccine search; speaks at ICMR event

Dr. Anthony S Fauci, the top infectious disease specialist of the United States, on Thursday asserted that India would play an important role in supplying the world with a COVID-19 vaccine. Dr. Fauci who is also the director of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) said NIAID and India’s Department of Biotechnology have had a partnership of more than 30 years through the Indo-US Vaccine Action Plan (VAP), and it is playing a role in monitoring India’s research and development (R&D) efforts in vaccine development.

Dr. Fauci was speaking at an online symposium organised by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) which was attended by several globally acclaimed epidemiologists and vaccinologists.

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Private sector has a very important role to play

During the Web conference, Dr. Fauci said India’s private sector has a very important role to play as the world’s leading manufacturer of vaccines. As effective Covid-19 vaccines emerge from the research efforts the manufacturing capability is going to be very, very important, he added.  Dr. Fauci also said the US and other National Institutes of Health will continue to work with Indian counterparts and colleagues in the Covid-19 vaccine development.

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According to Dr. Fauci there are three main aspects that would reduce the delay between trials and the manufacture of vaccines. They are regulatory standards and review, the financing of advanced vaccine production and harmonised data monitoring to foster comparability.

He also put forth his opinion on one of the ongoing debates in the medical community, he said he was against human challenge trials, in which participants are deliberately exposed to the virus. He said the high incidence of COVID-19 makes such risks unnecessary and the lack of highly effective therapies makes it unethical. However, some of the other panelists at the symposium disagreed.

Prof Adrian Hill of Oxford University, who is part of the team of researchers partnered with India’s Serum Institute to develop a vaccine candidate informed therapies such as remedesivir and convalescent plasma should allow researchers to consider both human challenge and randomised control trials for faster and less expensive pathways, considering the unpredictability of coronavirus spread. In view of rising 'vaccine nationalism, the participants also discussed how to equitably distribute the future vaccine.

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COVID-19 cases in India

As of Friday, India's total COVID cases stand at 16,38,871 of which 5,45,318 are active while 10,57,806 have recovered. 35,747 people have died so far. The lockdown has been extended to August 31 under 'Unlock 3' by the Ministry of Hime Affairs.

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