 "Non-profit criticises ICMR for rejecting Covaxin study, alleges censorship")
A non-profit comprising epidemiologists, doctors, and public health experts has urged the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to “desist” from academic censorship. This follows ICMR's criticism of Banaras Hindu University (BHU) researchers for their study on Covaxin's side effects.
In an open letter to ICMR's director, Universal Health Organisation UHO emphasised the study's importance in providing field data on Covaxin's long-term safety. The letter, signed by the managing committee of the Mumbai-based group, stressed the need for transparency for the millions of Indian children who received Covaxin.
“It (ICMR) must certainly desist from academic censorship of the already small number of studies on Covaxin long-term safety. ICMR owes this to the lakhs of Indian children to whom Covaxin was administered, for these children have their entire life ahead of them,” said the letter.
"While we were hoping and expecting a research institution of repute such as ICMR to build upon this study, address its shortcomings, and elevate the standards of vaccine safety, we are aghast to come across letters sent by ICMR asking for the retraction of the paper, and threatening the authors of the study," said UHO.
Universal Health Organisation
Signatories included Prof. Bhaskaran Raman from IIT Bombay, Dr Amitav Bannerjee, Dr Gayatri Panditrao, Dr Praveen K. Saxena, Dr Veena Raghava, and Dr Maya Valecha.
UHO called on ICMR to prioritise vaccine safety, release Phase-3 trial data with long-term follow-up, and investigate the leak of private communications to the BHU study authors and Drug Safety Journal editor, which they termed harassment. They said ICMR had overreacted to author acknowledgments, suggesting simple private communication for any corrections.
“If ICMR does not wish to be acknowledged it can communicate this privately to the authors and the editor and an erratum can be issued – a routine matter in scientific publications,” the letter said.
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