- SII has filed a defamation suit against a Chennai-based volunteer who claimed to suffer from neurological side-effects after taking the vaccine shots
- The participant had sought Rs 5 crore as compensation from SII.
- The institute has alleged that the volunteer is just trying to malign and extort money.
THD NewsDesk, Pune: In an intriguing course of events, the Serum Institute of India filed a Rs 100-crore defamation suit against one of the volunteers who participated in the clinical trials of its Covid vaccine candidate. The Chennai-based volunteer had asked for Rs 5 crore compensation from the institute, claiming to have suffered from side-effects of the vaccine doses after participating in the ‘Covishield’ trial.
Additionally, the participant explicitly alleged that they experienced neurological breakdowns and psychological issues after being administered the vaccine shots.
Further, the participant has claimed that their cognitive functions were impaired post taking the vaccine dose that the institute has dismissed as “malicious and misconceived allegations”.
While acknowledging the issues suffered by the plaintiff who has sought damages, the Serum Institute of India clarified that there is “absolutely no correlation with the vaccine trial and his medical condition”.
“The allegations in the notice are malicious and misconceived. 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,” Serum Institute of India said in a statement.
“The drug controller office and health ministry office do not have any problem with the Serum vaccine as they know that the claims made by Chennai-based volunteer are not a genuine case. The principal investigator at the clinical site has already cleared this long time ago. In fact, this 40-year-old volunteer has recovered fully. These allegations are post-meditated. The volunteer is trying to extort something from the world-renowned company. The allegations are all garbage,” a senior official at SII Pune told India Today TV.
In its defence, SII claimed on India Today TV that the sole motive behind these baseless allegations is to extort money from the prestigious institute.
Ultimately, the SII has decided to go legal and has filed a criminal case against the volunteer. The person is expected to receive the notice by Monday.
Backing SII’s claim, an ICMR official has confirmed that the preliminary assessment shows that there is no apparent connection between the neurological issues of the volunteer and the ‘Covishield’ vaccine.
Source: India Today
