Following the admission by the multinational pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca in a UK court that, in rare circumstances, its Covid vaccine can result in blood clots, a group of physicians on Thursday voiced serious concerns about the safety of the Covishield vaccine, which is produced by the Serum Institute of India.
The doctors called for the government to review the science underlying all Covid vaccines, audit their commercialization, and implement active surveillance and monitoring mechanisms in order to ensure that vaccine adverse events are detected as soon as possible. They were speaking at a press conference on behalf of the Awaken India Movement (AIM).
“The government has wholly ignored the rising number of cases of tragic deaths post-Covid vaccination all the while and continues to promote Covid vaccines as ‘safe and effective’, without scientific investigation and invoking epidemiology,” Dr Tarun Kothari, a radiologist and an activist, said at the press conference.
The world is learning about a side effect of the Covid vaccine called Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (TTS), he said.
When the COVID-19 vaccines were being administered, not many people were aware that it was being done without the completion of phase-3 trials. Administration of COVID-19 vaccines was started without the manufacturers having complete information and data on the possible short-term or long-term side effects, or fatalities, said Dr Sujata Mittal, a gynaecologist and oncologist.
There is an already low awareness around vaccine injuries, especially in India, she said.
Thousands of women reported abnormalities in their menstrual cycles, which was confirmed much later as a side effect of the vaccine in a study published in September 2022, she added.
“The Awaken India Movement (AIM) has been collecting details of Covid Vaccine deaths covered by media/social media in India and sharing them with various high authorities of the country since 2021, when the vaccination began. The government has failed to respond to our repeated requests to investigate deaths and debilitation from adverse effects of vaccination,” Dr Kothari said.
The AIM urged the government of India to compensate all the victims of Covid vaccines, including their family members, through a mechanism that involves vaccine manufacturers as well.
“We also demand establishing fast track courts and vaccine courts to provide swift justice to the vaccine injured and their families,” Dr Mittal said.
Besides, active surveillance and monitoring mechanisms should be implemented to ensure vaccine adverse events are identified as early as possible and early treatment protocols must be created and widely publicised so that lives can be saved, she stated.
“Review science behind all Covid vaccines and audit their commercialisation,” Dr Kothari said.
Days after admitting to rare side effects of blood clotting and lowering of platelet counts, the UK-based AstraZeneca has begun a global withdrawal of its COVID-19 vaccine, which was supplied in India as ‘Covishield’ in collaboration with the Serum Institute of India.
The company stated in a statement that the withdrawal was brought about by an abundance of updated vaccines that have become available since the pandemic.
Serum Institute of India, a partner of the company, stated that it has ceased producing and supplying extra doses of Covishield since December 2021. It also reiterated that all extremely rare to rare side effects, including TTS, had been reported in the packaging insert in 2021.
Oxford University and AstraZeneca collaborated to develop the COVID-19 vaccine, which was commercialized.
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