“Centre must research side effects of Covishield,” says Ashok Gehlot

New Delhi [India], May 1 (ANI): Congress leader and former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday raised questions against the centre over the Covishield vaccine.

“Doctors have constantly warned the public about post-Covid problems. Now the questions raised about the Covishield vaccine have created a state of doubt in the minds of the public,” said Gehlot.

He further stated, “The Government of India should make the general public aware of the reality through ICMR researchers and should immediately do research on people who have taken Covishield to find out what side effects it can have and what should be done to avoid them.”

On Wednesday, an application was moved in the Supreme Court seeking to issue direction to form a medical expert panel to examine Covishield vaccine side effects.

The plea has been moved by advocate Vishal Tiwari, who also urged the court to issue directions to the Centre to establish a vaccine damage payment system for the citizens who became severely disabled as a result of a vaccination drive during COVID-19.

In the plea, advocate Vishal Tiwari sought direction to constitute a medical expert panel comprising medical experts from the All India Institute of Medical Science, Delhi headed by its director and supervised by the retired justice of the Supreme Court of India, to examine the Covishield vaccine side effects and its risk factors.

The application also sought to issue directions to the Centre to compensate the people who are severely disabled or died because of the side effects of Corona vaccine administered to them during COVID-19.

In the application, advocate Vishal Tiwari mentioned the recent disclosure that the Covishield vaccine had caused and may cause side effects in rare cases, as its developer and pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca has said that its AZD1222 vaccine against COVID-19, which was made under licence in India as Covidshield, 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 licenced to Pune-based vaccine maker Serum Institute of India (SII) during the coronavirus pandemic for the manufacture of Covishield.

In some countries, like the UK there is a vaccine damage payment system for people who get severely disabled due to vaccination, the application said.