Government not allowing recipient to choose vaccine, Indians not guinea pigs: Congress

NEW DELHI: The Congress questioned the rationale of the Centre first stating that Covaxin, developed by Bharat Biotech, was cleared for only emergency use and now insisting that the recipients can’t choose between Covishield and Covaxin.

Congress parliamentarian Manish Tewari made a pointed query to the Union Health Minister through a tweet: “Till yesterday NDA/BJP claimed Covaxin has been cleared for emergency use. Today by not allowing the recipient to pick a vaccine of his choice, is NDA/BJP making Guinea pigs out of Indians @drharshvardhan? Is roll out The REAL Phase-3 Trial of Covaxin?”

With this, Tewari joined some others in objecting to the rollout of Covaxin, till its efficacy and reliability is completely established and phase-3 trials are over. “It (the government) should act in a manner whereby there’s complete confidence in people. You can’t use rollout as a phase 3 trial, Indians are not guinea pigs,” Tewari later said.