Health ministry calls out NDTV fake news on Serum Institute, Bharat Biotech vaccines

Union Health Ministry has called out NDTV for posting a report which said that the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation had turned down Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech's proposals for emergency authorisation for their vaccines.

NDTV had in its report cited sources to claim that both proposals had not been approved due to "inadequate safety and efficacy data available".

It also reported that Pfizer's proposal could not be taken up since their expert were reportedly yet to arrive from the United States.

However, the Union Health Ministry took to Twitter to call NDTV reportage as "Fake News"

Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech application for its vaccine, Covaxin, in collaboration with National Institute of Virology was based mainly on the safety data from phase-I and phase-II trials.
 

With regard to Pune-based Serum Institute of India''s application for Covishield, which is being developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca, testing is currently in phase-III trials in India. In its application, SSI submitted the safety data from phase I and phase II trials.
 

Pfizer is yet to begin clinical trials in India of its vaccine, developed in collaboration with BioNTech, but has still sought an approval to use it here based on the results of the trials conducted in the US.