According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, the common side effects in some individuals could be mild fever, pain, etc. at the site of injection. States have been asked to start making arrangements to deal with any COVID-19 vaccine-related side-effects as one of the measures towards safe vaccine delivery among masses.
But are there any more side effects that we don’t know of yet? transparency in publishing clinical trial data is imperative, especially for vaccines which have been administered to crores of people in a short amount of time.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, a Supreme Court lawyer representing Dr. Jacob Puliyel, a former member of National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation, believe people have the right to know. They want the court to find out the side effects of the vaccines that are being made in India.
As for the Covid19 pandemic, we have not had a pandemic like this since the last 100 years, the vaccines for covid 19 were granted for Emergency Use Authorised by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI).
The petitioner in the case has requested the Court to direct the government, its bodies and the two domestic vaccine manufacturers Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech, to transparently reveal clinical trial and vaccination data, including the recording and reporting of adverse events.
Adv Bhushan said, “I am not saying they stop the vaccination. I am only urging them to be transparent. People have the right to be informed”
The Supreme Court has sought a reply from the government in four weeks, and we will soon have evidence about whether the vaccine has or does not have any side effects on people.
