PANAJI
With Astra-Zeneca recently admitting in courts in the United Kingdom that its Covid vaccine could lead to serious side effects including Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (TTS), the Goa chapter of the Awaken India Movement (AIM) a nationwide NGO has demanded a mechanism involving the Indian vaccine makers to pay compensation to the kin of victims.
Darryl D'Souza, of AIM (Goa Chapter) who heads the Integrative Medicine & Healthcare Committee of Goa, raised serious concerns over the safety of the Covishield vaccine manufactured by the Adhar Poonawala promoted Serum Institute of India and which was approved under 'Emergency Use Authorization by waiving stage II and Stage III clinical trials.
According to D'Souza, the Government of India was aware of these safety concerns about the Covishield vaccine way back in May 2021 after Dr Snehal Lunawat (33), a frontline Covid warrior, died after a vaccine shot but did nothing in response.
"Adhar Poonawala and Serum Institute (SII) denied at the time that their vaccine could cause TTS, but surreptitiously included it as a risk in their Product Insert later in October 2021," D'Souza said at a press conference he addressed along with other members of AIM's Goa chapter.
He added that the Covishield vaccine's 'product insert' giving information of the possible side effects including TTS was never shown to the unsuspecting people who were coerced into taking the vaccine shots.
"Did any of you see the vaccine bottle? You were simply taken in and the health worker injected you with the syringe without telling you what its contents were," D'Souza asked even as he accused the government of failing to adhere to the requirement of 'prior informed consent' which is an authentic medical practice.
Brian Fernandes, another AIM Goa chapter member, alleged that doctors generally failed to educate people who were vaccinated about possible adverse effects and the government too ignored this responsibility.
"Doctors too were unprepared to deal with these side effects," Fernandes said, adding that many lives could have been saved if these necessary precautions were taken.
In several cases where vaccinated people faced the adverse effects, doctors treated them for other prognosis, seemingly oblivious to TTS, Fernandes alleged.
AIM has medically documented at least a dozen cases of deaths due to vaccines and has alleged that as many as 19,273 deaths of adults and 183 children due to adverse effects of vaccination have come to its knowledge.
AIM has also collated this data of Covid vaccine deaths and shared it with various authorities in the country since 2021, when vaccination began in the country.
Several cases have also been filed against both the government (Union of India) and vaccine makers in various High Courts and the Supreme of India as well, which AIM, headquartered in Mumbai, has been tracking.
AIM has also demanded that the government set up a mechanism, including the vaccine manufacturers and fast track courts, to compensate all Covid vaccine victims. It also said that the science behind all Covid vaccines be reviewed and their commercialisation be audited.
Others who were part of AIM's panel that addressed the press conference at Azad Maidan on Saturday evening included, Amar Gaonkar, a NICE & WISE health expert, Bharat Bhakale, Joseph Vaz and Vito Nunes.
