NEW DELHI: A plea was filed by lawyer, Vishal Tiwari in the Supreme Court seeking examination of AstraZeneca’s Covishield vaccine, its side effects and risk factors by constituting a team of expert doctors from AIIMS.
Tiwari, in his fresh plea, a copy accessed by this newspaper, filed in the top court, sought directions to constitute in the interest of health safety, a medical expert panel comprising of doctors from All India Institute of Medical Science, Delhi. The panel must be headed by its Director and supervised by the retired Justice of Supreme Court to examine the Covishield vaccine, its side effects as well as risk factors.
"I seek directions to the Union of India (UOI) to establish a vaccine damage payment system for the citizens who got severely disabled as a result of a vaccination Drive during Covid-19. The SC should pass directions to the UOI to compensate the people who are severely disabled or died because of the side effects of Corona vaccine administered to them during Covid-19," said Tiwari in his plea filed before the top court.
The plea was filed by Tiwari as it was recently revealed that Covishield Vaccine had caused and may cause side effects in rare cases. Pharmaceutical company and developer of this vaccine, AstraZeneca has said that its AZD1222 vaccine against Covid-19, which was made under licence in India as Covishield, could cause low platelet counts and formation of blood clots in “very rare” cases.
"AstraZeneca has accepted a link between the vaccine and Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (TTS), a medical condition characterized by abnormally low levels of platelets and the formation of blood clots. AstraZeneca’s vaccine formula was licensed to Pune-based vaccine maker Serum Institute of India (SII) during the coronavirus pandemic for the manufacture of Covishield. More than 175 crore doses of Covishield have been administered in India," the plea said.
The UK-based media organisation, The Telegraph, reported recently that a “case was lodged last year by Jamie Scott, a father of two, who was left with a permanent brain injury after developing a blood clot and a bleed on the brain that has prevented him from working after he received the vaccine in April 2021”, the plea said.
Further quoting the report, it said that in all, “fifty one cases have been lodged in the High Court in the UK, with victims and grieving relatives seeking damages estimated to be worth up to £100 million.”
In court documents from February, AstraZeneca denied that “TTS is caused by the vaccine at a generic level”. However, it admitted to the possibility of TTS as a result of its vaccination in "very rare cases," the plea said.
In India a large number of Covishield were administered to the citizens during the Covid-19 vaccine drive upon the approach of the Government and on the assurance of its safety for health, Tiwari said in his fresh plea.
In India, after Covid-19 there have been increase in the cases of death due to heart attacks and sudden collapse of persons, the plea said and added that there have been number of cases of heart attack even in youngsters. Now after the document filed in the UK court by the developer of Covishield, we are compelled to think upon the risk and its hazardous consequences of Covishield vaccine which have been administered to the citizens at a large number, the plea added.
Tiwari thereby pleaded to the apex court to direct the government to take immediate steps for the sake of the safety and health of Indian citizens. The issue has to be looked upon by the Union Government on priority so that in future no risk may occur regarding the health and life of Indians.
Seeking damages for the vaccine's aide effects, he said that even in some countries like the UK there is vaccine damage payment system for people who get severely disabled due to vaccination.
