[ad_1]
New Delhi: The Central government should review cases of adverse reaction to covid-19 jabs in India, said Dr Sanjay Rai, professor of community medicine at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi — a key figure in developing India’s response to the pandemic.
His remarks, made in an interview, came after British drugmaker AstraZeneca admitted covid-19 vaccines can cause “rare side effects” before the UK High Court. Following a class action lawsuit in the UK, a plea was filed in the Supreme Court of India on Wednesday seeking directions to set up an expert panel for evaluating the side-effects of Covishield.
Dr Rai played a key role as Principal Investigator of safety trials on Covaxin, the vaccine manufactured by Bharat Biotech. The trials were run at AIIMS.
Review on cards
“The health ministry’s AEFI committee should consider reviewing covid vaccine-related adverse events,” Dr Rai said.
“During the pandemic, covid-19 vaccines were controlling the severity, but at the same time, vaccine-related adverse events such as thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS, or blood clot) happens, but it occurs in rare cases only. It’s not only with the covid vaccines, but it also happens with all kinds of vaccines. Therefore, risk benefit analysis is done.”
TTS involves the formation of blood clots accompanied by a low platelet count, which is crucial for blood clotting.
As of 1 May, India had 856 active covid-19 cases, and 23 people had received covid-19 jab on that day.
“Right now, vaccination is not required any more as entire population have developed immunity against the covid-19 infection. Today, vaccine can do more harm more than good,” he said.
Plea before SC
In India, Covishield, a vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University was manufactured by the Serum Institute of India and extensively administered to the Indian population.
While Covishield’s phase 2 and 3 trials were done in India in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), efficacy trials were conducted in the UK, US, Brazil and South Africa.
Since July 2021 the Serum Institute website has listed the various kinds of adverse events that could occur after a Covishield jab. It has stated that in rarest of the rare cases, major blood clotting (venous and/or arterial thrombosis) in combination with low platelet count (thrombocytopenia) has been observed (with a frequency less than 1 in 100,000 vaccinated individuals).
Queries sent to the Serum Institute remained unanswered.
Acceptable safety profile
Earlier this week, the firm stated—“AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine has continuously been shown to have an acceptable safety profile and regulators around the world consistently state that the benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks of extremely rare potential side effects.”
In 2022, a reputed medical journal Pubmed published a report citing a short-term adverse event following two doses of Covishield, but it said these were mild and short-lived.
Unlock a world of Benefits! From insightful newsletters to real-time stock tracking, breaking news and a personalized newsfeed – it’s all here, just a click away! Login Now!
Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates.
Published: 02 May 2024, 04:53 PM IST
[ad_2]
Source link