Amid the debate over efficacy of the COVID vaccines approved by the country's drug regulator, the Indian Medical Association has come out in their favour, stating that they have been found inducing "good protective levels of antibodies".

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In a statement issued on 8 January, the association said that the vaccines shall perform great for the people and their approval has made the whole country feel proud. "Good protective levels of antibodies have been found to develop with Indian Vaccines. With great efficacy levels & affordability, these Indian Vaccines shall perform great for the people of our country," it said.

The Drug Controller General of India had recently approved two vaccines against the COVID-19 for restricted emergency use in the country, paving the way for a massive inoculation drive. Covaxin, developed by Bharat Biotech, and Covishield, manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, have been given approval. While Bharat Biotech has developed Covaxin with a whole virion inactivated virus, SII has enginerd Covishield with recombinant Chimpanzee Adenovirus vector virus.

As Covishield was granted emergency use authorisation on January 2 while its Phase 3 trial is still underway, the Subject Expert Committee was criticised for granting approval before an interim analysis was conducted or efficacy data made public. Meanwhile, the IMA lauded the efforts of Indian scientists and researchers to come out with vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 stating that they have worked hard to make this a success.

"We appreciate the contributions of all Indian scientists and researchers who have relentlessly spent their time in making this dream a success and contributing to develop Self-sufficient India," the apex association of modern medicine doctors said. "With the vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 at our doorsteps, it is worth remembering that indigenous vaccines have been developed after the tireless efforts of Indian scientists in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the National Institute of Virology (NIV)," it added.

The IMA also appealed to all its members to actively participate in the COVID-19 vaccination drive so that the same becomes a success as well. "As you all are aware of the COVID vaccine being made available in the immediate future, it becomes our natural responsibility to assist the vaccination drive in a professional way. We should come out openly and support this programme, wherever it is happening, both in terms of manpower and infrastructure cover," it said.