Updated September 2026: this page previously carried a December 2020 item, written in the voice of an unnamed "editorial office", claiming that Covid-19 vaccines being prepared for India were ineffective and linking to a petition. Those claims were not supported by evidence. The item has been replaced with this correction. This is general information, not medical advice.
In December 2020, this site published a short item attributing claims to unnamed doctors at a Delhi hospital: that the vaccine based on a chimpanzee adenovirus was worthless, and that Indians were being given a placebo. It named no sources that could be checked, and it did not reflect the published trial evidence. It should not have been published here.
What was the vaccine the item referred to?
The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, which uses a modified chimpanzee adenovirus to carry instructions for the coronavirus spike protein. In India it was manufactured by the Serum Institute of India as Covishield. It received emergency use approval from India's drug regulator in January 2021, alongside Covaxin, and India's vaccination programme began that month.
Where did the efficacy figures come from?
Interim results from the Oxford-AstraZeneca trials, announced in November 2020, reported efficacy that varied by dosing: around 62 percent with two full doses, higher with a different dosing pattern, and about 70 percent on average. The 62 percent figure in the original item came from these results. Efficacy at that level against symptomatic disease is not a "placebo", and protection against severe illness was higher.
Why was the original item a problem?
It presented unverified claims as fact, relied on anonymous sources and encouraged readers to act on them. Health misinformation can lead people to avoid treatment or vaccination that would protect them. This site does not cover medicine, and the item was outside what it should publish.
Where can you find reliable information?
- India's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, for national guidance.
- The World Health Organization, for international guidance and evidence summaries.
- Your own doctor, for advice about your health and any vaccine.
What has changed on this site?
The original text and its outbound links have been removed. Future content stays within the site's own subjects, and any factual error found in an older post is corrected in place with a note like this one, rather than removed silently.