As we are on the verge of breakthrough in vaccine development for Covid-19, it should be stressed that strict regulatory controls should be the norm all over the world, so that the various vaccines that are being developed are both effective and harmless as far as collateral side effects are concerned.
In the quest for a vaccine however, a British-Swedish company has exercised ethical truthful openness in reporting that one of its participants has developed a serious illness. In fact, the revelation by the companies that one of its patients started showing signs of a rare and devastating neurological condition called as transverse myelitis, though unfortunate should lead to the companies to subject themselves to more rigorous testing so that the vaccine that is ultimately developed may be both efficacious as well as harmless.
Regulatory authorities across the world should not spare efforts to be able to only allow those vaccines that have passed stringent tests qualitatively. While the onus to develop a harmless vaccine is the responsibility of the respective companies, regulatory authorities across the world should bear responsibility for allowing only the best vaccines to be mass produced. Adverse effects on vaccine recipients has to be eliminated.
ELVIDIO MIRANDA, via email
