Parents To Sue AstraZeneca Over Daughter's Alleged Death After Taking Covishield

Days after AstraZeneca acknowledged that its COVID vaccine can lead to a rare blood clot side effect, the parents of a young woman who allegedly died after being given Covishield are planning to sue the British pharma giant and world’s largest vaccine maker.

The development comes after AstraZeneca admitted in the UK court that their vaccine can cause rare side effects that can lead to blood clots and low platelet count.

Notably, while AstraZeneca developed the COVID-19 vaccine, it was manufactured in India by the Serum Institute of India (SII) under the name ‘Covishield’. The vaccine was widely administered in the country. However, SII is yet to comment on this matter.

Reacting on AstraZeneca admission, Venugopalan Govindan, who lost his 20-year-old daughter Karunya in 2021, said the admission was “too late” and came after “so many lives have been lost”.

Taking to X, he wrote, “The Serum Institute should have stopped the vaccine supply after the 15 European countries had restricted its usage over deaths from blood clots.” He said the grieving parents are fighting for justice in various courts, but are not getting a hearing.

“The manufacturer Serum Institute of India, the Government who advertised these vaccines throughout the nation at huge expense to exchequer as ‘safe and effective’ without sufficient data (and when data emerged about the adverse events from around the world, they chose not to stop the rollout or at least sensitise people and medical fraternity about it), 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,” he added in the post on X.

“Serum Institute of India and Adar Poonawalla will have to answer for their sins. For the lives lost,” Govindan said in another post, accusing government authorities for approving the rollout of the vaccine.

What is TTS, Covishield’s Rare Side-Effect?

AstraZeneca (AZ), UK’s pharmaceutical giant, has admitted its Covid vaccine, sold under the brand name of Covishield in India, in ‘very rare cases’ can cause a blood clot-related side effect, according to court papers being quoted in the UK media.

The pharmaceutical giant admitted that the COVID-19 vaccine may cause Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (TTS). TTS is an extreme immunological reaction that occurs after COVID-19 immunisation.

TTS is a rare disease that was observed in individuals who received a COVID-19 adenovirus vector-based vaccination. It is a kind of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST), in which clots of blood develop in the venous sinuses of the brain, blocking the flow of blood out of the brain. This lowers the platelet count and increases the risk of bleeding or blood clots in different body areas.

Blood clots can occur in the stomach or brain, among other places. A limited number of individuals who got the Covishield vaccination have reported experiencing TTS syndrome, a significant and uncommon side effect, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

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