After setting a crunched timeline for the launch of Covaxin, a coronavirus vaccine developed by Bharat Biotech (BBIL), the ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) issued a statement on Saturday in which it claimed it was to “cut unnecessary red tape, without bypassing any necessary process, and speed up recruitment of participants”. 

The ICMR set August 15 for the launch of Covaxin, to align it with India’s Independence Day. The medical body issued the statement just hours after it faced immense backlash from experts, the medical community and the opposition. 

“Just as red tape was not allowed to become a hindrance in the fast track approval of new indigenous testing kits or for introducing in the Indian market potential COVID-19 related drugs, the indigenous vaccine development process has also been sought to be insulated from slow file movement,” the statement said. 

“The decision was aimed at completing the phases at the earliest so that population-based trials for efficacy could be initiated without delay,” the ICMR statement said.

“ICMR’s process is exactly in accordance with the globally accepted norms to fast-track the vaccine development for diseases of pandemic potential wherein human and animal trials can continue in parallel.”

“While issues raised in public domain from time-to-time by commentators are welcome”, India’s medical professionals and research scientists should not be second-guessed for their professionalism or adherence to the highest scientific rigour”, the agency added. 

“ICMR is committed to treat the safety and interest of people of India as a topmost priority”, it added.

The ICMR’s order for Covaxin’s trials to be conducted in little over a month, was heavily criticized. A vaccine generally takes months, sometimes years and even decades to be developed. Three decades into its development, the HIV vaccine is still in the Phase III trial. The fastest vaccine to be developed, till date is for mumps, which took four years, from virus isolation to vaccine licensing.