A plea has been lodged in the Supreme Court seeking directions to study the possible side effects of Astrazeneca’s Covishield vaccine, one of two vaccines that was administered in India against COVID-19.

The petition was lodged after Astrazeneca admitted before a court in the United Kingdom that Covishield has the potential to cause a rare side effect associated with blood clotting.

The plea filed by advocate Vishal Tiwari mentioned that 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.

The petitioner in his plea has prayed that a medical expert committee be formed by the Supreme Court under the supervision of a retired top court judge and comprising medical experts from All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) to examine the side effects of Covishield vaccine and its risk factors.

It further submitted that the Centre is required to take immediate steps for the sake of the safety and health of Indian citizens. It added that the issue has to be looked upon by the Central Government on priority so that in future no risk may occur regarding the health and life of Indian citizens. Notably, more than 175 crore Covishield have been administered in India.

The petitioner has also urged the court to order the establishment of a Vaccine Damage Payment System to compensate citizens who are severely disabled or pass away as a result of a COVID vaccine.

Earlier in August 2022, the Kerala High Court had called for urgent action from the Centre and the National Disaster Management Authority to formulate guidelines for disbursing compensation to the families of persons who died due to reactions to the Covid-19 vaccine.

Later in November 2022, when the Supreme Court was seized of a case dealing with mandatory vaccination and side effects of COVID-19 vaccines, the Central government had told the apex court that it cannot be held liable to pay compensation for deaths caused by adverse reactions to COVID-19 vaccines.

Furthermore, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) said the same in response to a plea by the parents of two young women who had died allegedly due to the adverse effects of COVID-19 vaccine.

The Centre then told the Supreme Court that vaccines manufactured by third parties had successfully undergone regulatory review, and holding the state directly liable to provide compensation may not be legally sustainable.

It stated that the vaccines in use under the vaccination program are manufactured by third parties and have successfully undergone thorough regulatory review in India and other nations, being recognised globally as safe and effective.

The Indian Council of Medical Research has informed that it has partnered with Bharat Biotech International Limited (BBIL) to fast track clinical trials of the indigenous COVID 19 vaccine (BBV152 COVID Vaccine).

The vaccine named “Covaxin” according to ICMR is the first indigenous vaccine being developed by India and is one of the top priority projects which is being monitored at the topmost level of the Government. The Vaccine is derived from a strain of SARS-CoV-2 isolated by ICMR National Institute of Virology, Pune. Bothe ICMR and BBIL are working together for the preclinical as well as clinical development of the vaccine.

The vaccine is stated to be launched for public health use latest by August 15, 2020 after completing all clinical trials.

BBIL is working expeditiously to meet the targets, however final outcome will depend on the cooperation of all clinical trial sites involved in the project.

The institutes that have been selected for the clinical trial are in Visakhapatnam, Rohtak, New Delhi, Patna, Belgaum (Karnataka), Nagpur, Gorakhpur, Kattankulathur (Tamil Nadu), Hyderabad, Arya Nagar, Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh) and Goa.

While the COVID 19 cases are surging day after day and Scientists around the world are giving in their best efforts to develop a vaccine for COVID 19 cure, no vaccine has been successfully developed so far.

-India Legal Bureau