Drug business thrives on fabricated fears

First, a wolf-cry, then a solution! The anti-Covid19 vaccine came up at a magical speed of one-tenth of the normal time negating the wisdom of science and clinical efficacy. Everything goes like a sham, but a serious trade on the credulity of the panic-stricken community. It seems, no one’s doubts have any space.

Herbivores graze together in jungles, often in large size flocks. Out of thousands, some never return home after their grazing, as they fall into their natural fate. The animals are aware of their bad fates, yet they never stop their routine grazing. They do not know any other way to live, but to give in to their helplessness. In fact, they choose to live with their destiny in the animal planet where they see a space for their predators also.

On the other side, carnivores have no dearth for their prey. Plenty of predators around them graze naively. They catch hold of their tasty prey using their claws and teeth as nature armed them for their living. They are capable of overpowering even more powerful predators at an appropriate time and enjoy a feast. But the carnivores, which rule jungles of herbivores, also have enemies among them. Thank God, such animals are rarely seen, though aggressive in their realms.

I am not against any wisdom that saves the planet. If science holds up wisdom, none can question it. I do not doubt this. But if science is framed to play the role of a carnivore treating innocent human beings as predators, then the bipedal primates become civilized Guinea pigs. Maybe, the term is contradictory to call them so.

To put it straight forward, in the modern world, human beings have become an object of a trial of clinical science, as the carnivores predate on herbivores. We are made to believe that every clinical research and development is for saving the humankind. But rarely it is. As we begin to watch out for certain developments and connect the loose-lines of news appearing in the Press, our suspicion becomes starker.

We had seen the pandemic that spread like wildfire around the globe triggered brisk activities in clinical labs around the world. Clinical scientists and virologists worked hard to find something unique to steal media limelight. The alerts of the World Health Organisation (WHO) early January 2020, after China reported the Wuhan crisis, sent the Covid-19 siren to every country and the healthcare regulator of respective countries. Fueled by hefty PR works, global pharmaceutical giants became more active in their labs and sought to be dominant in the media with their ideas for tackling the medical challenges. When the panic button was switched on, the pharmaceutical giants found their business space opening widely. Stocks were repurposed and made healthcare regulators believe what they claimed without any clinical database. For the panic-stricken world, something was better than nothing. Drug giants never needed anything more.

First, they made a wolf-cry and terrified people. They could win the ploy. Then they saw the credulous ones running for a cover. Naturally, the panic-stricken humans find an element of elixir even in poison. The chances of business are good, thank God, all questioning voices were silenced. Naturally, neither media nor any ruling class would ever prefer to question any questionable business of trillions worth.

Healthcare regulators and drug administration officials are positioned not to question any data thrown in by drug makers. The world was made to be so anxious to see one coming in, though the public fear about the seriousness of Covid-19 began to ebb. The regulators and governments around the world have been in place to believe what drug makers claim. In the case of the anti-corona vaccine, regulators picked up feedback thrown by media reports instead of waiting for the authorized data to come up along with the application for approval. The reason may be an urgency for the approval to contain the pandemic that everyone in the world wants. Then the wolf-cry succeeds. However, vaccine makers were not out of fear of the ebbing public concern about the virus, which carried the potential to sink the applecart of vaccine makers.

More than 170 vaccines are at various stages of developments. The big three have claimed almost completion of the process for emergency approval. Vaccine development typically takes many years before establishing its efficacy. WHO never expected the vaccine trial to be over so quickly. It projected the timeline for public availability only late next year. But the clinical trial of the anti-corona vaccine took only seven months to complete and claim success. It was a virtual competition for reaching the finishing point. The first phase of the trial began in April 2020. No one knew when the pre-trial development works started. By early December the vaccine is ready for the first inoculation for the public in the UK. The fallouts reported in the course of the trial were swallowed by those who reported as the course of trials resumed soon after the pause.

In October 2020, Johnson & Johnson had to pause its vaccine trial after one of its participants fell sick. After this, the company suspended recruitment to the phase three trial. The company did not share details of the sick participant. In the previous month, the trial of Oxford University-AstraZeneca for its vaccine also had one of its participants being sick, which was unexplained. Its participant was reported to have transverse myelitis, an inflammatory syndrome caused by viral infections. One of the participants in India also fell sick, who eventually filed a case for compensation of Rs 5 crore after he found his nervous system collapsing after taking a shot. Serum Institute of India, the Indian partner of Oxford University-AstraZeneca, countered the defamation with a case demanding Rs 100 crore. Earlier, in the early stage also, in April, the trial of AstraZeneca had reported sickness of a participant.

The historic pledge by nine global pharma giants is only a farce, as the leading Covid-19 vaccine makers like Pfizer wanted its biggest market to give it government guarantee of compensation for those who fall sick by its vaccine. It was laughable that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), was ready to approve before completing the third phase of clinical trials.

Only God and the vaccine makers may know how many human beings will pay with their life for satisfying themselves with the vaccine. The credulous ones take it for a sense of peace without knowing their fate of being predators of drug science. Some people may live longer. Some may not. Then we assign the excuse to the destiny or uninvestigated health disorder and naively trust that the vaccine never fails.