 Hello and let's talk about India's hopes of developing a vaccine by August 15th. The Indian Council of Medical Research has now clarified saying that they did not say that August 15th was a deadline. In a sign of the great confusion prevalent in government circles, the Ministry of Science and Technology also released a clarification yesterday where it said that no vaccine was likely to be ready before 2021. Then, the ministry deleted the point about 2021. Clearly there's a lot of back and forth going about in government circles on this issue and one can only hope that in this process the proper procedure in developing a vaccine is not compromised. We'll be discussing this further but first here is a chronology. On July 2nd, ICMR director Dr. Balram Bharga wrote a letter to 12 institutions across the country asking them to begin human trials on a vaccine named Covaxin. The vaccine has been manufactured by the Hyderabad based company Bharat Biotech. The letter said that it was envisaged that the vaccine should be ready for public use on August 15th this year and said that enrollment of subjects should begin no later than July 7th. It also said that non-compliance would be viewed very seriously and that this project was being monitored at the top most level of the government. The ICMR subsequently backtracked on Saturday saying that the point of the letter was only to cut red tape and without bypassing the necessary procedures. Then came Sunday's clarification that August 15th was not a deadline. Meanwhile, according to the applications files filed by Bharat Biotech itself, the first two phases are expected to take a year and three months. This has left many puzzled what the ICMR director meant when he said public use by August 15th. The Indian Academy of Sciences has termed the deadline unfeasible. In a statement it said and I quote, any hasty solution that may compromise rigorous scientific processes and standards will likely have long-term adverse impacts of unforeseen magnitude on the citizens of the country. So what led to this confusion? What are the realistic timelines and what is the politics behind this? Today we are going to discuss the vaccine trials, some of which are now supposed to start in India as well. Of course, Serum Institute is one of the big players, generic vaccine players in the market and they have also lined up with Oxford University trials that if it succeeds then they will also produce the vaccines in India. Satyajit, a very peculiar clearance given by ICMR, your friends in Indian Council of Medical Research who seem to have said the vaccine should be ready by 15th of August this year. Now does it seem absurd that the Indian Council of Medical Research should not know there are three phases of the trials and they are now asking the vaccine manufacturer who had said that they will run the trials phase 1, phase 2 and phase 3 trials. Over 15 months they should do it in the period of roughly six weeks. The first response that many people had to the letter from the Director General ICMR that you're talking about that came and emerged as a leak I think they were for yesterday evening was is this some sort of a troll or a scam or a joke because so I have had people asking me do I really think that is his signature. And I asked you did they make a mistake about the year in the letter then one person asked that as well so it is that extraordinary peculiar but in very brief terms the letter is deeply problematic in two different ways. Firstly the letter is written to the private sector partner developer biotech industry, biotech and to a group of a dozen or so hospitals let me not use the medical institutions since all of them I suspect cannot be dignified with that term a dozen or so hospitals who are supposed to be participating in the clinical trial of a SARS-CoV-2 COVID-19 vaccine that ICMR and Bharat Biotech are developing together ICMR is a partner in this that is even more strange the number of weird things about that letter simply multiply them more carefully you look at the letter. So I am still hoping to wake up and discover that it was some sort of a joke or a mistake and that it wasn't written by the DGIC although I suspect that that's not going to turn out to be the case. Can we demand to see his degree? Is that a legitimate demand? Whoever assigned the letter but completely frivolous responses although they are the most appropriate assigned let me point out that there are two ways in which that letter is worrisome two different categories in which that letter is worrisome one category is this is a letter coming from a senior government official this is not simply the director general of the Indian Council of Medical Research it is also the full secretary of the government of India in the ministry of health and family welfare the secretary in charge of the department of health research so this is then effectively a government letter and basically this is a government letter that is written to a number of parties some in the public sector completely a few in the public sector basically saying to them that they need to fast track and expedite a vaccine clinical trial which is in regulatory terms and extremely carefully hedged about undertaking it is hedged about by legal requirements it is encompassed in regulatory stringency which is for good reason I mean normally fast tracking is something others might want but a regulatory body asking the people to fast track development of a vaccine is actually the reverse of what a regulatory body should be doing so keep in mind that this is not the regulatory body technically speaking because the regulatory body is the CDSEO or the drug control agent in India or people in that component of government if this had been the regulatory body then the conflicts would have been even more problematic plus as I said ICMR is a partner developer of the vaccine nonetheless to say that is what does the letter say that serious views will be taken of failure to expedite the process to introduce the matter by saying that this matter is being followed at the top most levels of government or words to that effect all of this is classical bureaucraties to threaten people and just to give a viewer's reminder as of today morning India had over 697,000 cases with over 19,600 deaths our next segment is on the resumption of test cricket England and West Indies play the first match in the three test series on July 8 this is the first international cricket action after the pandemic broke out and is being keenly watched there are some precedented rules in place Leslie thank you so much for joining us so very important couple of days that are coming up test cricket is finally resuming after quite a break after the Covid-19 disease and so at this point of time could you first start by talking about the context in which this is starting because I understand that irrespective of whether people have or not, nonetheless it's very interesting when a sporting event of this nature and time is beginning it is very interesting because cricket is big in India and BCCI as we know has been reluctant to start any form of cricket even training and they are citing safety concerns and all that there are other factors at play too but they have been proven right because our neighboring country Pakistan opened up because they are again traveling to England for the series after this West Indies England series and many of the players tested positive for coronavirus once they convened before flying out so in that regard with the cricketing world in shutdown and also going through a critical phase because their entire season can be completely washed out if they don't start and that could mean a lot of loss as well as revenue is concerned so it was paramount that boards such as the English board or West Indies board Pakistan board I mean even for that matter BCCI as well but we are banking ourselves to do I mean break even with the IPL this season so international cricket is not exactly a priority but for the other boards it's very important that these bilateral series happens and the example for England being they would have if this summer cricket doesn't happen in England they would have lost to the tune of around the estimate is 300 million US dollars and West Indies again struggling cricket board and English board has given West Indies a 3 million dollar loan recently and West Indies cricket board has been very clear that they are not travelling because of that loan or paying back for that favor but it's clear that both sides this tour is very important I mean the series to happen safely and properly it's very important and on a larger scale it's very important for cricket as well and with a World Cup year the T20 World Cup will happen in Australia in the fate of which is not decided maybe it might get scrapped because it's logistically a little bit of a nightmare because it's not a bilateral series you have many teams coming travelling different matches happening in different venues so that decision is yet to be made but it's a big year for cricket internationally because it was a World Cup year and also many series happening including these test series which are part of the larger World Test Championships so points are at stake for the countries too as far as cricket is concerned while the larger stake is of course money you mentioned this earlier while you were talking that it's interesting that the format chosen was test considering that it's a 5 day match it's not a few overs like a T20 match or something so could you also talk a bit about exactly what conditions this game is being played in so there are many changes to start with the technical committee had proposed a lot of changes in consultation with the medical committee of the International Cricket Townsend protocols have been set so the biggest change which we as cricket fans would notice is bowlers of fielders not applying saliva to shine one side of the bowl and their cricketers I used to do that to get this swing and get movement of the pitch and things like that so that won't be that bad and the teams would be penalized if they are caught doing that and other than that I mean in the build up to this test matches I mean the match starts on 8th build up the English team as well as the West Indies team played matches among each other and some of the images came out on social media on Twitter and all that so celebration again it's a different sort of they are using elbow bumps instead of hugging or shaking hands or things like that which would be an oversight again if for a fan watching it on TV and as far as game plan a game play is concerned it's a five day format so there is a provision for substitute a COVID-19 substitute which is a new addition to the rules of cricket where if a player is showing symptoms of coronavirus infection and then he can be substituted and obviously he has to be substituted and quarantined and so a replacement player can be available by the team involved and that's a new addition to the rule besides that the matches are being held in two there are three matches in the series which are held in two different venues two matches in Old Trafford in Manchester and one match in the Aegis Bowl in Southampton and the teams are now in Southampton the first match happening there so these two venues were selected because there is hotel facility in the stadium so the teams are not leaving the stadium at all they are in this safety bubble which is sanitized to the point that players have been quoted by media and agencies that they feel that they are leaving in a science fiction movie because everything is demarcated the zones players I mean it's all marked like lines are marked you are supposed to walk in through those lines only there are I mean even in the dining hall the players don't face each other it's like it's they're saying that some of them said that it feels like classroom because they are facing each other's back that way I mean sitting one behind the other and with the distance between them so these are all precautions these are all necessary for things to happen safely and safety is paramount because if at all something slips up then this is going to drastically affect our cricket we start and accept the normals that are going to be implemented for sports action in the near future and that would mean cricket's existence itself in jeopardy so there's a lot of responsibility upon the organizers to ensure that things happen very smoothly while having said that it's not easy on the players either I mean so being having covered a couple of cricket series abroad so when the touring party reaches the country there is a lot of I mean it's not just about matches and the commitment on the field it's there's a lot of social and even political commitment that way because the embassies are involved a huge gala dinner is arranged for the visiting parties so all these are not there it's like the players reached the country they have been quarantined for 14 days and then they have been shifted to the venue where they will play and they are not meeting anybody outside they are not stepping out just to catch some fresh air even as simple as that so how this would affect the players in the I mean long run because the players are not talking about it as such because they are just experiencing and living through it while at the same time the psychological toll that it might take is been discussed I had a chance to discuss with one sport psychologist about it last week and he was also pointing out that the series while it's good for cricket it may not be good for the players because they are living a life which they have not used to at all and sports is a social activity that way and without I mean taking that social out of sport is going to be very hard and cricket has taken that kind of a distancing protocols to another level I feel because in league football I mean football being contact sport and all that and players have had a much more proximity interaction I'm sure all these European clubs their dining halls were not set up like a classroom or a gym so it's tricky that way but I guess it's also important that this action needed to happen and as far as again in India it's these things would be viewed but it's also it also remains to be seen because our fans are not used to watching other teams play we watch cricket when our India is playing or when IPL is happening so that way as far as and cricket's biggest audience is in the subcontinent north out so maybe the novelty factor might be there for the first match but after that beyond that how much of broadcast PRP this series would garner that's in question and secondly the intriguing part I'm happy that it's cricket is starting with test because that's a format that I enjoy watching too it's a pure form there's no frills I mean it's pure bat and wall contest but at the same time I'm just intrigued why the boards went for this because it's not easy on the players physically either I mentioned earlier about the mental aspect of being in a lockdown kind of a situation while the physical aspect of playing five days of intense cricket test cricket I mean provided the match last five days is huge and players coming out of lockdown without much training or action in the last four months it's bodies might break down unless it's they have taken it in a systematic way in the past one still it's going to be tough on the players and secondly test cricket audience has been waning in the last two decades so even the broadcast audience so to restart the sport when so much is at stake and restarting it with the format that may not have so many takers it's I mean they should have gone for a shot it's a little intriguing yeah it's a bit of a gamble probably because it's part of the test championship so they might have figured that it's important that hold it but I would have gathered that it would have been a logical to start with a T20 format or a ODI format T20 works best because it's easier on the players, shorter format, shorter strain and then you can use the same venue and conduct two matches, three matches in this manner for five days and it would garner enough attention among the fans because it's intense closely fought action other than a test match it does and T20 being the most short after format it would have worked better than test I feel but again like I said personally I feel I would enjoy watching the test match provided it's an even contest between these two sides but let's be honest West Indies are not exactly what it was as a side long back and England's great side were one day world champions but on tests they perform like this in fact West Indies beat them last time they visited England so Thank you so much Nasi for talking to us. That's all we are time for today we will be back tomorrow with major news developments from the country until then keep watching news click