681: What Does Brazil’s Report on Covaxin’s Safety Mean for India?

<div>Recently on March 30, Brazil’s drug regulator ANVISA had rejected Bharat Biotech’s application for supplying Covaxin in the country.<br><br>They claimed Bharat Biotech, the Hyderabad-based pharma company that is manufacturing this indigenous vaccine in India, has not taken adequate measures to completely kill or inactivate the virus.<br><br>They also alleged a few other problems with the vaccine such as the possibility of variations in the potency and antigen quantity in the vaccine doses. All of which lack of a guarantee in how safe Covaxin is.<br><br>And so Brazil decided to not go ahead and buy the 20 million Covaxin doses that it was planning to get until Bharat Biotech fixes these problems.<br><br>But these irregularities that ANVISA is pointing out...why did the CDSCO not raise them before and also after these matters came to light why has it not taken any action?<br><br><strong>Also read:</strong> <a href="https://www.thequint.com/coronavirus/explained-why-is-cdsco-silent-on-brazils-report-on-bharat-biotech-plant">Brazil’s Report on Bharat Biotech Plant: Why is the CDSCO Silent?</a> <br><br><strong>Host and Producer:</strong> Shorbori Purkayastha<br><strong>Guests: </strong>Priyanka Pulla, Bangalore-based science journalist<br><strong>Editor:</strong> Shelly Walia<br><br><strong>Music:</strong> Big Bang Fuzz<br><br>Listen to The Big Story podcast on:<br><br>Apple: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=https%3A%2F%2Fapple.co%2F2AYdLIl&amp;redir_token=G9sQMbbppKv-LEFD29gDyTmPMzt8MTU3MTM4MDU5NkAxNTcxMjk0MTk2&amp;v=xkpX1V6aUFo&amp;event=video_description">https://apple.co/2AYdLIl</a> </div><div>Saavn: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2F2oix78C&amp;redir_token=G9sQMbbppKv-LEFD29gDyTmPMzt8MTU3MTM4MDU5NkAxNTcxMjk0MTk2&amp;v=xkpX1V6aUFo&amp;event=video_description">http://bit.ly/2oix78C</a> </div><div>Google Podcasts: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2F2ntMV7S&amp;redir_token=G9sQMbbppKv-LEFD29gDyTmPMzt8MTU3MTM4MDU5NkAxNTcxMjk0MTk2&amp;v=xkpX