The parents of 20-year-old woman who died allegedly after being administered Covishield vaccine will file a case against the Serum Institute of India (SII), reports said.
This comes after AstraZeneca admitted in court documents in the UK that their COVID-19 vaccine can cause a rare side effect called thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) which leads to blood clots and low platelet count.
The vaccine has been admitted amid a class-action lawsuit claiming numerous deaths and injuries, with victims and their families seeking up to £100 million in damages.
The AstraZeneca COVID vaccine was manufactured in India by the Serum Institute of India (SII) under the name 'Covishield' and was widely administered here.
Venugopalan Govindan, father of Karunya, who died post-Covid vaccination, said AstraZeneca's admission was "too late," following numerous casualties.
"AstraZeneca and SII should have stopped the manufacture and supply of these vaccines when 15 European countries either suspended or age-limited them due to deaths from blood clots that happened in March 2021, within a couple of months of the rollout of the vaccine itself," said Govindan.
Rachana Gangu, who lost her daughter Rithaika (18) in 2021, and Mr Govindan had earlier filed a writ petition seeking redressal and the appointment of an independent medical board to investigate their daughter's death.
"If sufficient remedies aren't obtained, for the sake of justice and to prevent recurrence of this atrocity that was perpetrated in the name of public health, we will file fresh cases against any and all of those perpetrators because of whose actions the deaths of our children ensued. Eight of the victims' families have connected and I am echoing the common sentiments of all of us," he said.
"Serum Institute of India and Adar Poonawalla will have to answer for their sins. For the lives lost," Mr Govindan wrote in an online post, also accusing government authorities for approving the rollout of the vaccine.
