The parents of a young Indian girl, Karunya, who died shortly after receiving the Covishield vaccine in July 2021, are taking legal action against the vaccine's manufacturer, Serum Institute of India (SII), and its developer, AstraZeneca.
Karunya, who died in July 2021, had received the vaccine shortly before her death, as reported by India Today. The national committee set up by the Union government, however, concluded that the evidence to link her demise with the vaccine was “insufficient.”
AstraZeneca, which is facing a class-action lawsuit in the UK, has admitted in court documents that its vaccine can cause a rare side effect of blood clotting coupled with low platelet count, known as Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (TTS).
Karunya's father, Venugopalan Govindan, expressed outrage that AstraZeneca and SII failed to act sooner, despite warnings from European countries. "Both AstraZeneca and Serum Institute should have stopped the vaccine's manufacture and supply 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," he told The Economic Times.
Govindan will file a writ petition seeking compensation and the appointment of an independent medical board to inquire into his daughter's death. This comes as AstraZeneca faces a class action lawsuit in the UK over claims that its vaccine caused deaths and severe injuries in at least 51 cases.
The Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine was sold globally under various brand names, including Covishield and Vaxzevria. The UK government, which has secured AstraZeneca from legal action, is yet to intervene in the matter.
Earlier, a few parents had moved court blaming the administration of the vaccine for the death of their children. The petition was against the government and the authorities that cleared the vaccine. The Serum Institute was not a party in those cases.
