New Delhi: Experts from India’s health domain on Friday said that there is no need to worry about COVID-19 vaccines as most citizens have been administered three doses of the vaccines already. The statement comes days after AstraZeneca, a British pharmaceutical company admitted in a court that its COVID-19 vaccine does have side effects.
“AstraZeneca has admitted that Thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) is a rare problem which occurred after the first dose of Covishield was taken by individuals in 2021. Now most individuals have been administered three doses, so we need not worry. All vaccines were given emergency use authorisation and they prevented deaths, hospitalisation and severity,” said Dr Suneela Garg, Chair Programme Advisory Committee of the National Institute of Health and Family Welfare (NIHFW) to ETV Bharat.
We have been witnessing different variants of COVID-19 which are also variants of Omicron but have not witnessed a major outbreak yet, Dr Garg said. "Government should keep watch on the occurrence of cases, do genome sequencing and remove myths and misconceptions about Covishield,” she added. However, said that every vaccine is bound to have some side effects, she mentioned.
Covishield side effects: AstraZeneca had recently admitted in court documents that its COVID-19 vaccine (Covishield) has the potential to cause TTS, a rare side effect associated with blood clotting and is a serious and life-threatening adverse event. The vaccine was sold globally under the brand names Covishield and Vaxzevria.
SII connection with Covishield: Indian pharma giant Serum Institute of India (SII) is the manufacturer of Covishield, a vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University in India. Following AstraZeneca’s admission, the SII has said that it has stopped making and supplying Covishield. Earlier, AstraZeneca announced its decision to withdraw its version of the jab worldwide.
Government’s view: Although the Union Health Ministry is yet to come up with any official response over the development, a senior official said that in the last one and half years, around 400,000 COVID-19 vaccines were used domestically. In fact, after September 2022 when free booster doses were offered, the government did not procure any more doses of vaccine. “And at present there’s no point of recalling the vaccine in India when there is no stock,” the official said.
