The Supreme Court was moved on Wednesday for the setting up of a committee of expert medical doctors from AIIMS, Delhi, to examine AstraZeneca’s vaccine, its side effects and the risk factors involved in its vaccination.

The petition was moved in the apex court in the wake of admission by a pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca’s before the British High Court on the potential of its vaccine – known in India as Covishield – causing Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (TTS) (blood clots).

Advertisement

The proposed expert panel should be headed by the AIIMS director and supervised by a retired Judge of the Supreme Court, petitioner Vishal Tiwari has said in his petition.

Seeking compensation for the people adversely impacted by the vaccine, the petitioner Vishal Tiwari has said, “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 Supreme Court 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.”

Tiwari in his petition has said that it has been recently disclosed that Covishield Vaccine had caused and may cause side effects in rare cases. Pharmaceutical company and developer of the vaccine, AstraZeneca has said that its AZD1222 vaccine against Covid-19, which was made under licence in India as Covishield, could cause the 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. 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,” says the petition.

The UK-based media organisation, The Telegraph, has 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 from the ‘The Telegraph’ report, the petition says 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”.

Referring to the letter written by the pharmaceutical giant to its lawyers and the document filed in the UK High Court in February, the petition says, ‘The Telegraph Report says that 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”‘.

In India a large number Covishield were administered to the citizens during covid-19 pandemic vaccine drive, with the assurance of the government of its safety and no adverse effect on health, Tiwari said in his plea.

In India, after covid 19, there have been an increase in the cases of death due to heart attacks and sudden collapse of persons, the plea said and added that there have been a 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 in large numbers, the plea added.

Tiwari has pleaded 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 India Citizens.

Seeking damages for the vaccine’s side effects, petitioner Tiwari has said that even in some countries like the UK there is a Vaccine damage payment system for the people who get severely disabled due to vaccination.