NEW DELHI: A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking examination of side effects and risk factors of AstraZenecas Covishield vaccine, marketed here by Pune's Serum Institute of India, while constituting a team of expert doctors, headed by AIIMS director.
In an application, advocate Vishal Tiwari sought directions to constitute in the interest of health and safety a medical expert panel supervised by the retired Justice of Supreme Court to examine the Covishield vaccine, its side effects and its risk factors.
He asked the court to pass directions to the Union government to compensate the people who are severely disabled or died because of the side effects of Corona vaccine administered to them during Covid-19 pandemic.
The plea stated that 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 in the UK court 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 characterised by abnormally low levels of platelets and the formation of blood clots. AstraZenecas 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.
The application quoted the report, 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 Covishield were administered to the citizens during Covid-19 vaccine drive upon the approach of the government and on the assurance of the government of its safety and safe for health, the plea said.
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.
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.
More than 175 crore doses of Covishield have been administered in India, it pointed out.
