Covishield Side Effects: Plea In SC For Vaccine Damage Payment System For Citizens

A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking formation of a panel of medical experts from AIIMS, Delhi to study the Covishield vaccine and examine its side-effects, risk factors.

New Delhi:A plea has been moved in the Supreme Court seeking directions to constitute a medical experts’ panel of experts’ from the All India Institute of Medical Science, Delhi, headed by its director and supervised by a former judge of the apex court to examine the Covishield vaccine side effects and its risk factors.

The plea by advocate Vishal Tiwari said recently it is revealed that Covishield vaccine had caused and may cause side effects in rare cases and its developer 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.

“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”, said the plea.

The plea said after Covid 19 there has been an increase in the cases of death due to heart attack and sudden collapse of persons and there have been a number of cases of heart attack even in young people.

“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”, said the plea.

The plea urged the apex court to issue a direction to the Centre 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 plea also sought a direction to the Union of India to compensate the people who are severely disabled or died because of the side effects of corona vaccine administered to them during Covid 19.