Refrain from unwarranted criticism, Karnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar on Bharat Biotech's Covaxin

Karnataka Health and Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar on Tuesday made an impassioned plea to the people to refrain from discrediting scientists. In a series of tweets, he backed Bharat Biotech's Covaxin a day after the company's head defended his vaccine in a press conference in Hyderabad.

"The approval of Bharat Biotech's Covid-19 vaccine marks a significant milestone in India's indigenous novel vaccinology. India being one of the largest exporters of vaccines, the world is looking up to us in the common fight against this global pandemic. Bharat Biotech is a globally reputed company which has the credibility and experience of developing 16 vaccines including that for Influenza H1N1, Rotavirus, Japanese Encephalitis, Rabies, Chikungunya, Zika, and the world's first tetanus-toxoid conjugated vaccine for Typhoid," Sudhakar said.

Hailing from a "humble" background, Bharat Biotech's founder and chairman Dr Krishna Ella, is a passionate professional with a credibility of delivering over four billion vaccine doses to underprivileged people in more than 150 developing countries through UNICEF and other channels, Sudhakar said.

"Covaxin's phase-3 clinical trial involves 24,000 volunteers and its data will be available soon. I humbly appeal to everyone, not as a health minister but as a fellow medical professional, to refrain from unwarranted criticism, which discredits the hard work of our scientists," he said.

Noted epidemiologist Dr Giridhar Babu who is a member of the State Covid-19 Technical Advisory Committee, talking about the same subject, on Monday, tweeted, "I am proud of the hard work done by Indian scientists...This whole thing was unnecessary...We could have waited for few more weeks. What was the hurry?"