Which Indian scientist led the team that developed the first indigenous COVID-19 vaccine?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Gagandeep Kang
Note: The given answer is as per the official NTA Answer Key. However, none of the given options appears to be correct, because India’s first indigenous COVID-19 vaccine, Covaxin, was not developed by a team led by any of these four scientists, as explained below.
India’s first indigenous COVID-19 vaccine is Covaxin, developed by Bharat Biotech of Hyderabad together with the ICMR and its National Institute of Virology, Pune, and approved for emergency use in January 2021. The company’s work was led by its chairman, Dr Krishna Ella, whose name is not among the options.
Gagandeep Kang is one of India’s best-known vaccine scientists, a virologist of the Christian Medical College, Vellore. She led the clinical trials of Rotavac, India’s first indigenous rotavirus vaccine, and in 2019 became the first Indian woman elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. Of the four names, she is the only scientist known for developing vaccines, which is why the answer given by NTA is Option (4).
The other three held public offices during the COVID-19 period: K. Sivan was the Chairman of ISRO (2018–2022), Randeep Guleria the Director of AIIMS, New Delhi, and Soumya Swaminathan (printed in the option as Soumya Vishwanathan) the Chief Scientist of the World Health Organization.