Congress leader questions reliability of COVID vaccine

Congress leader Manish Tewari on Tuesday alleged the government has “politically misused the Covid-19 pandemic in its entirety” as he also criticised it over the grant of approval to Bharat Biotech International Limited’s vaccine against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) for restricted use.

New Delhi: Congress leader Manish Tewari on Tuesday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has "politically misused" the COVID-19 pandemic and raised question marks on the reliability of the vaccine.

"The BJP government has politically misused the COVID-19 pandemic in its entirety. The controversy over the vaccine is its latest manifestation. Who is going to get himself vaccinated with a vaccine that has question marks on its reliability," Tewari said.

"The BJP govt has done a great disservice to that company which must have invested crores of rupees in research and development. In their quest to prove their 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' they have licensed a vaccine whose phase III trials are not complete," he added.

Earlier on January 2, Akhilesh Yadav had said that he will not get vaccinated against coronavirus for now as the "BJP government cannot be trusted".

Meanwhile, Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech jointly communicated their pledge on Tuesday for the smooth rollout of COVID-19 vaccines to India and the world.

"Mr Adar Poonawala and Dr Krishna Ella, jointly on behalf of the two companies, today communicated their combined intent to develop, manufacture and supply the COVID-19 vaccines for India and globally," read a joint statement from SII and Bharat Biotech.

Adar Poonawala is Chief Executive Officer of SII. Dr Krishna Ella is Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Biotech.

(ANI)