After UK report, plea in Supreme Court to set up expert panel to examine Covidsheild's side effects

New Delhi: A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court for a direction to constitute a panel of medical experts headed by the AIIMS director under the supervision of a retired top court judge to examine side effects of the Covishield vaccine after reports emerged of the manufacturer's admission about in the United Kingdom.

The application filed by advocate Vishal Tiwari sought a direction to the Union government to establish a vaccine damage payment system for the citizens who got severely disabled as a result of a vaccination drive during Covid-19 pandemic.

The plea has been filed in a 2021 pending PIL.

The plea also sought direction 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 the pandemic.

The applicant stated a large number of Covishield vaccines were administered to the citizens during the Covid-19 vaccine drive on the government's assurance of its safety.

"After Covid-19, there have been increase in the cases of death due to heart attack and sudden collapse of persons. There have been number of cases of heart attack even in youngsters," it said.

"Now after the document filed in UK court by the developer of Covishield, we are compelled to think upon the risk and hazardous consequences of the vaccine which have been administered to the citizens at a large number. The government is required 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," the plea added.

The applicant contended that it has been revealed 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 low platelet counts and formation of blood clots in “very rare” cases.

It said 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.

The plea cited a report by The Telegraph 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 report said that in all, “51 cases have been lodged in the High Court (in the UK), with victims and grieving relatives seeking damages estimated to be worth up to UK pound 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”.