For the second time in two weeks, patient groups in India are raising concerns about a domestic vaccine manufacturer and its Covid-19 shot, which is one of two vaccines that were recently granted emergency use by the Indian government for combating the pandemic.
The latest flap involves allegations that Bharat Biotech failed to follow proper procedures for providing informed consent to clinical trial participants and, consequently, that the company is violating national guidelines. Advocates, who note many participants lacked the education to understand consent forms, say they are concerned about the ethics of offering low-income individuals a “substantial” sum of money to be vaccinated as part of the study.
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