COVID-19 Vaccine Controversy: Will it Impact Public Trust in Other Vaccines?

Dear Editor, World-famous Nobel laureate Boris Pasternak rightly quotes, “Surprise is the greatest gift which life can grant us.” Likewise, AstraZeneca, a UK-based pharmaceutical giant, surprised and shocked the world by admitting in a UK court that the Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) vaccine (marketed as COVISHIELD in India) “can, in very rare cases, cause Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (TTS),” or simply, blood clots with low platelets. Later, the company decided to withdraw the vaccine from the global market due to commercial reasons. This pharma behemoth could not escape the scrutinising eyes of the scientific community and was held responsible for the development of TTS in several vaccinated patients [1]. Although this confessed in the UK, the news was fired on social media platforms, caused a furore throughout the world, including India, where millions of people had received this vaccine for their survival [2]. Therefore, an impactful concern that has been bothering us since the recent and ongoing controversy is: will we also lose faith in vaccines for other diseases?