You won’t get Covaxin by Bharat biotech on 15th August But ICMR did issue the viral letter.

August 11, 2020 Harsh Kashiv

Spread the truth:

A letter from ICMR along with a message is viral on social media stating that Bharat Biotech has received permission from the central government for production of a vaccine to fight Covid19. According to the claims this vaccine will be available in the market from 15 August.

Twitter

The letter from ICMR is viral with the following message

“Bharat bio tech vaccine Received permission from central government from 15 th August it will be available in market as corona vaccine . Great –news today see official permission.”

Bharat bio tech vaccine Received permission from central government from 15 th August it will be available in market as corona vaccine . Great news today see official permission… pic.twitter.com/GbQjXAVT0Y

— Sanatani Thakur (@SanggitaT) July 20, 2020

This tweet has the same message as caption but with a video of a Republic TV news clip.

🙏😷 *Bharat bio tech vaccine Received permission from central government from 15 th August* *it will be available in market as corona vaccine .* *Great news today see official permission 🤝🇮🇳🤝*🚩🌹 pic.twitter.com/nGFG6fCrpF

— N.K.AGARWAL (@NKAgarwal1234) August 10, 2020

These messages along with letter are viral from early july which can be seen from this tweet.

https://twitter.com/NaniYsrcpYzag/status/1285619474926907394

Facebook

A facebook user Sunil Brahmbhatt shared this post on 30th July.

The viral message on whatsapp was similar- “Bharat bio tech vaccine Received permission from central government from 15 th August it will be available in market as corona vaccine . Great news today see official permission.”

BARAT BIOTECH

These are the screenshots of the letter issued by ICMR.

Truth

The viral claim that 15 August is a deadline for the launch of the vaccine is false. But the letter is not fake ICMR did issue the viral letter.

The letter being shared from the Director General of ICMR about the Bharat Biotech vaccine is in no way fake or altered, the viral message along with it lacks the context that came after this letter was issued on 2 July.

Confusion had mounted over the announcement, in an official statement on 4 July, ICMR said that its process was “exactly in accordance with the globally accepted norms to fast-track the vaccine development for diseases of pandemic potential wherein human and animal trials can continue in parallel.”

However, on 5 July, an ICMR official told Livemint that they had not zeroed in on 15 August as a launch date and that the letter was being misinterpreted.

“Our internal communication is being misinterpreted. We only said that we envisage to have a vaccine by 15 August and it is not a deadline. We have not said that we will launch a vaccine by then. The process can be expedited but the vaccine still will have to undergo all safety clinical trials.” ICMR said to Livemint.

In a 26 July interview to The Week, Bharat Biotech founder Dr Krishna Ella said that it is too early to state a date for the launch of Covaxin, “as we are in the beginning phase of human trials. Only after the safety data is established and upon receiving regulatory approvals will we be able to decide to move into the course of licensure.”

In an interview to The New Indian Express, Dr Ella had said that the vaccine could be available for mass use only by early 2021. “We are hoping all the studies meet the highest safety and efficacy standards, and if the regulators approve of them, we can expect the vaccine to be available early 2021″.