NDA (II) 2023 General Ability Test · Question 145 of 146

Correct — D, 1, 2 and 3. All three statements hold. The network exists precisely to test vaccines against an epidemic pathogen: it was set up so that every COVID-19 vaccine developer could have the immune response to its candidate assessed free of charge against a common protocol, using clinical samples from preclinical work and from Phase I to Phase III trials — that is statement 1. India is a member: the Translational Health Science and Technology Institute at Faridabad, an institute of the Department of Biotechnology, was recognised as the Indian laboratory of the network and was inaugurated as such in January 2021, the first laboratory of its kind in the country — that is statement 2. And the network is a programme of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, the foundation that finances vaccine development against emerging infectious diseases — that is statement 3.

• (a)1 only — This accepts what the network does but denies India a place in it. The Faridabad institute is a full member laboratory and was the first of its kind in India, accredited by the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories.
• (b)2 and 3 only — Rejecting statement 1 removes the network's entire purpose. Testing vaccine candidates for an epidemic pathogen, so that results from different developers can be compared, is the reason the network was created.
• (c)1 and 2 only — This drops the parent body. The network is not a free-standing international agency; it is run under the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, which is what statement 3 says.

When many laboratories test many vaccine candidates using their own assays, the results cannot be compared with each other, and a regulator or a purchaser has no way of telling which candidate is producing the stronger immune response. The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations answered that problem by creating a centralised network of laboratories that all run the same protocol on trial samples. Developers get the assessment free; the world gets numbers that can be placed side by side. Because the bottleneck it removes is a general one, the network was built as pandemic-preparedness infrastructure rather than as a one-off COVID-19 arrangement.

Statement 2 is the one a candidate is most likely to reject, because Indian membership of a global scientific network sounds like something that would need checking. It should not be rejected: the Faridabad institute was announced as the Indian node in January 2021 and described at the time as the first laboratory of its kind in India and one of a small handful worldwide. The other member laboratories sit in Canada, the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Bangladesh, the United States and Mexico, and the network has since widened to include laboratories in more low- and middle-income countries. The examinable habit to build here is that a body named as part of a larger organisation in one statement, given a function in another and given an Indian member in a third is usually a straightforward all-three item — the examiner is testing whether you have heard of it at all.

• The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations is a foundation that finances research to develop vaccines against emerging infectious diseases.
• Its centralised laboratory network lets vaccine developers have immunogenicity assessed free of charge against a common protocol, so that candidates can be compared.
• The Indian member is the Translational Health Science and Technology Institute, Faridabad, an institute of the Department of Biotechnology, inaugurated as the network's Indian laboratory in January 2021.
• Other member laboratories are located in Canada, the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Bangladesh, the United States and Mexico, and the network has since expanded into more low- and middle-income countries.

• Assuming India is not a member of a global scientific network without checking; here it is.
• Reading the network as a manufacturing arrangement rather than a testing one.
• Confusing the Coalition with the World Health Organization or with the vaccine alliance that distributes doses.

Asked as a three-statement item on a body in the news, where each statement checks a different attribute — function, membership and parent organisation.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Centralized Laboratory Network that assesses vaccine candidates against a common protocol is run by

  • (a)the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations
  • (b)the World Trade Organization
  • (c)the International Atomic Energy Agency
  • (d)the United Nations Environment Programme

  Answer(a) the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations — the foundation that finances vaccine development against emerging infectious diseases.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which Indian institution serves as the national laboratory of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations centralised network ?

  • (a)Translational Health Science and Technology Institute, Faridabad
  • (b)Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru
  • (c)National Institute of Oceanography, Goa
  • (d)Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai

  Answer(a) Translational Health Science and Technology Institute, Faridabad — an institute of the Department of Biotechnology, inaugurated as the network's Indian laboratory in January 2021.