Serum Institute Reject Jab Volunteer's Claim about Covishield, Seek Rs.100 Crore in Damages

What could be an interesting turn of tale in the recent times, Serum Institute of India (SII) seek Rs,100 crore in damages for a Chennai-based volunteer who served a Rs.5 crore compensatory legal notice to SII claiming he developed neurological complications after being administered a test dose of Oxford-AstraZeneca Covishield vaccine for coronavirus. SII termed his claims malicious and misconceived in nature and said ‘there is absolutely no correlation with the vaccine trail and the medical condition of the volunteer.

In its statement, SII said, “While the Serum Institute of India is sympathetic to the volunteer’s medical condition, there is absolutely no correlation with the vaccine trial and the medical condition of the volunteer. The volunteer is falsely laying the blame for his medical problems on the COVID vaccine trial.” It further stated that, “The allegations in the notice are malicious and misconceived because the volunteer was specifically informed by the medical team that the complications he suffered were independent of the vaccine trial he underwent. In spite of specifically being made aware of the same, he still chose to go public and malign the reputation of the company.”

The 40-year old volunteer who works as a business consultant, said that he should be compensated in the least for all the suffering that he and his family have undergone and are likely to undergo in the future.

According to the notice, the participant has been diagnosed with acute neuro encephalopathy, an allergy linked as a side-effect of the Covishield shots he took on October 1. The volunteer also served notice to other avenues involved in the development and production of the COVID-19 vaccine candidate.