BJP put lives at stake for extorting political donations from vaccine manufacturer: Akhilesh Yadav

Lucknow: Amid a controversy over the 'side effects' of Covishield vaccine, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav Wednesday accused the BJP of putting the lives of people at stake for "extorting political donations" from a vaccine manufacturer.

Demanding a high-level judicial probe into it, Yadav said allowing such lethal medicines amounts to a conspiracy to murder someone and those responsible should be prosecuted.

"Around 80 crore Indians have been given the Covishield vaccine, which is two doses per person and the company that made its original formula has said that it causes a risk of heart attack," Yadav said in a post on X.

Those who have lost their loved ones due to the side effects of the vaccine or who feared the ill-effects of the vaccine, their doubts and fears have now been proven right, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said.

Those who play with the lives of the people will not be forgiven, he said.

In another post, Yadav wrote, "The government should not be a trader! The people of the country will give their answer to the money hungry party, which is putting the lives of 80% of the population of the country at risk for a few crores of rupees in the name of donations, by defeating it badly in the Lok Sabha elections."

He said the frightened people across the country are taking out their vaccination certificates to see which vaccine they have been given.

"We had said it earlier and are saying it now too that it was not right to administer the vaccine without thorough testing. Now that the company that made the Covishield vaccine has itself admitted about its bad side effects in a foreign court, what more proof does the public need?" he said.

Yadav said now the question of public life will follow the BJP members wherever they go. Even the BJP supporters have fallen prey to this. Due to the ill-effects of the vaccine and public opposition, the fear of the BJP members has doubled as compared to the fear of the general public, he added.

He said seeing the gradually growing public opposition, the BJP flags have been removed from the houses and vehicles, and bands from the necks of the party members because the common BJP member has not got any security cover. Though the BJP claims that it has worked to save the lives of the people during the Corona period, in reality it has worked to put lives at risk, he alleged.

"Even in the disaster of a global pandemic, the BJP found an opportunity to promote itself by printing a picture on the Covid vaccine certificate. Now when people are looking at their vaccination certificates, their opposition and anger is increasing further.

"Those who sold the country's assets have put the lives of crores of people at stake for a few bucks. Now the public will secure both its present and future by removing the BJP forever," Yadav added in the same post.

UK-headquartered pharma giant AstraZeneca has admitted that in 'very rare cases', its COVID-19 vaccine, which is known as Vaxzevria in Europe and Covishield in India, can cause a blood clot-related side effect but the causal link is unknown, according to court papers being quoted in the UK media.

In India, the AstraZeneca vaccine was manufactured by the Serum Institute of India.

Attacking the BJP, the SP chief further said, "The ruling party has put the lives of the public at stake by collecting political donations from the vaccine manufacturing company."

"Neither the law, nor the public will ever forgive them. There should be a judicial inquiry at the highest level in this matter," Yadav added.

The SP leaders had made similar allegations on Tuesday, saying the BJP took 'commission' from the manufacturer of the Covid vaccine, which they said was 'forcibly' administered to the people.

UP Congress chief Ajay Rai had also attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the issue. "Is this Modi's guarantee?" he had asked.

SP national general secretary Shivpal Yadav had said, "It has now been exposed that they have taken commission in vaccines too. Low quality vaccines and medicines were given to the people."

Dimple Yadav, wife of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, said the people were "forcibly" administered Covid vaccines in the country.

She alleged that a donation of Rs 200-300 crore was taken (by the BJP) and the company was given permission to market the vaccine. The people were forcibly administered vaccines. Nowhere in the world vaccines were administered forcibly, Dimple said, adding that corruption in vaccine manufacturing has now come to the fore.

While the country was under the impact of COVID-19 pandemic, Yadav had said he would not take the 'BJP's vaccine', and that when his government comes to power, everyone would be vaccinated for free.

The Daily Telegraph reported that in a legal document submitted to the High Court in London in February for a group action brought by 51 claimants, AstraZeneca admitted that the vaccine developed with the University of Oxford to protect against COVID-19 may cause Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (TTS) in 'very rare cases'.