After pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca admitted in a UK court that its Covid vaccine could cause blood clots in rare cases, a group of doctors in India on Thursday expressed deep concern over the safety of the Covishield vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India.
During a press conference, a group of doctors belonging to the Awaken India Movement (AIM) called on the government to conduct a thorough review of the scientific research behind all COVID-19 vaccines.
They also urged the government to audit the vaccines' commercialisation and establish active surveillance and monitoring mechanisms to ensure that any adverse events related to the vaccines are identified as early as possible.
Also Read: AstraZeneca withdraws Covishield amid safety allegations, cites commercial reasons
"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 they were being done without completing phase-3 trials. The 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.
Also Read: Parents to sue AstraZeneca, allege daughter died after taking Covishield
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-19 vaccines, including their family members, through a mechanism that also involves vaccine manufacturers.
She stated that 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 to save lives.
The United Kingdom-based AstraZeneca has started global withdrawal of its COVID-19 vaccine, which was provided in India as 'Covishield' in partnership with the Serum Institute of India, days after it admitted to rare side effects of blood clotting and lowering of platelet counts.
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