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Aditi Tandon
New Delhi, May 11
Top Indian scientists and clinicians on Monday wrote an open letter to government Covid strategists demanding the removal of convalescent plasma therapy from national Covid clinical protocols and warned against possibilities of plasma use triggering virulent Covid variants while being of no clinical benefit among Covid patients.
“Current research evidence unanimously indicates there is no benefit offered by convalescent plasma for treatment of COVID-19. However, it continues to be prescribed rampantly in hospitals across India. Families of patients run from pillar-to-post for getting plasma, which is in short supply and black marketing is common. Some very early evidence indicated a possible association between emergence of variants with lower susceptibility to neutralizing antibodies in immunosuppressed people given plasma therapy. This raises the possibility of more virulent strains developing due to irrational use of plasma therapy which
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Plasma use could trigger virulent variants: Experts
New Delhi: Top Indian scientists and clinicians on Monday wrote to government Covid strategists, demanding removal of convalescent plasma therapy from national Covid clinical protocols and warned against possibilities of plasma use triggering virulent Covid variants.
“Research evidence indicates there is no benefit offered by convalescent plasma for treatment of Covid-19. However, it continues to be prescribed rampantly in hospitals. Some early evidence indicated a possible association between emergence of variants with lower susceptibility to neutralising antibodies in immunosuppressed people given plasma therapy. This raises the possibility of more virulent strains developing due to irrational use of plasma therapy which can fuel the pandemic,” clinicians said in a signed letter addressed to PM’s principal scientific adviser K Vijay Raghavan, ICMR chief Balram Bhargava and AIIMS-New Delhi Director
Experts Slam Bharat Biotech for Misleading Advisory on Covaxin Trials 29/12/2020
Representative image. Photo: Reuters/Baz Ratner
New Delhi: A document released by pharmaceutical firm Bharat Biotech, which is running short of volunteers for its ongoing phase-3 trials for its COVID-19 vaccine candidate Covaxin, to address queries raised by volunteers at Covaxin trial sites has drawn flak from public health experts.
According to
The Print, one query on the list of frequently asked questions (FAQs) in the document read, “Why should I participate in the Phase 3 Efficacy Trial for Covaxin and get vaccinated, when the government announced that persons above the age of 50 years will be vaccinated shortly?”