Mumbai: Serum Institute of India (SII) is facing the heat after AstraZeneca admitted in court documents earlier this week that its COVID-19 vaccine can cause a potentially dangerous blot clot-related side effect thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS).
The parents of a woman, who reportedly died after taking Covishield vaccine in 2021, have decided to sue SII.
The Pune-based biopharmaceutical firm manufactured the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine under the brand name Covishield in India.
The parents of Karunya, who passed away in July 2021 a few weeks after the administration of first Covishield dose, have filed a case urging a probe over her death as soon as possible and sought access to the findings of the investigation.
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In their writ petition, they have also demanded appointment of an impartial medical board to probe the case.
Karunya’s father Venugopalan Govindan said that AstraZeneca’s admission came “too late” as it resulted in the loss of a number of lives.
“AstraZeneca and SII should have stopped manufacture and supply of these vaccines when 15 European countries either suspended or age-limited these due to deaths from blood clots that happened in March 2021, within a couple of months of the rollout of the vaccine itself,” The Times of India quoted the Govindan as saying.
He accused the government and vaccine maker of marketing the vaccine as “safe and effective” without providing enough evidence.
“The regulatory bodies that approved it and subsequently didn’t intervene to stop it when data emerged about the dangers, are all culpable in the death of my daughter and countless others who have died after taking this so-called vaccine,” Govindan added.
SII has not commented on the matter.
After the deaths of Karunya and other individuals who took Covishield in 2021, the national committee set up by the government concluded there was insufficient evidence to conclude that the deaths were caused by the vaccine.
