More than three months since India announced its first lockdown, the country has not seen a decline in its COVID-19 cases. To be sure, the various phases of the lockdown, along with the dissemination of guidelines on social distancing, better hygiene, and use of masks, have reaped positive results. However, the country continues to record some 20,000 new cases every day, and policymakers are hard-pressed to make decisions on the appropriate containment strategies. Meanwhile, the global race to develop a vaccine or find a therapeutic cure is ongoing, with governments, non-profit organisations, universities, and pharmaceutical companies collaborating in numerous efforts.
At the time of writing this brief, there were more than 140 vaccines under development, and research is underway for over 400 therapeutic drugs. Scientists are exploring novel approaches for the development of a vaccine, such as using the RNA of the virus. Developing a vaccine, and promoting universal access to it, appears to be the biggest hope at this point. Researchers are suggesting an optimistic window of 12 to 18 months from the declaration of a pandemic in March, for the development and approval of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Read the entire article below written by Sahil Deo, co-founder of CPC Analytics & Visiting Faculty, Daksha Fellowship | Christian Franz, co-founder of CPC Analytics | Sanjana Krishnan, Partner at CPC Analytics | Shardul Manurkar is Lead (Legislative Research) at CPC Analytics
COVID19 Vaccine: Development, Access and Distribution in the Indian Context
