A Chennai man, who participated in the trials for the Covid-19 vaccine being manufactured by the Pune-based Serum Institute of India, has allegedly suffered serious neurological and psychological symptoms after taking the experimental shots. A law firm has on his behalf sent a legal notice to SII seeking compensation of Rs 5 crore.
The vaccine, Covishield, is being developed by the University of Oxford and drugmaker AstraZeneca. SII has a tie-up with Swedish-British pharma giant for the manufacturing of a billion doses. Covishield is among the frontrunners in the race to develop an effective vaccine against Covid-19.
The legal notice states that the participant, who is around 40 years old, “must be compensated, in the least, for all the sufferings that he and his family have undergone and are likely to undergo in future”.
According to the notice, the participant has been diagnosed with “acute neuro encephalopathy”, which has allegedly been linked as a side-effect of the Covishield shots that he took on 1 October.
In the notice, the law firm, Row and Reddy, has described the trial participant’s condition as “far from being all right” and claimed that he “has to be under medical care for a long time to come”.
Apart from SII, the notice has been sent to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Drug Controller General of India (DCGI), Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of AstraZeneca, Professor Andrew Pollard at the Oxford Vaccine Trial, The Jenner Institute Laboratories University and the vice-chancellor of Sri Ramachandra Higher Education and Research where the participant was given the vaccine shot.
The legal notice claims the participant began experiencing headaches and then endured a seven-day stay in the intensive care unit (ICU).
It further states that “the testing, manufacturing and the distribution of the vaccine should also be stopped immediately”. The notice warns that if the defendants failed in doing so, the complainant has no other option except to take appropriate legal action against all the parties concerned.
