Lucknow Resident files complaint against Jt Secy of Health Ministry, Adar Poonawala and Heads of Drugs Controller General of India, ICMR and National Health Mission

A resident of Lucknow, Pratap Chandra, says that even after being administered Covishield vaccine (developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca and produced by Serum Institute of India) he has not developed any antibodies against the disease. This has left him dumbfounded and he now has taken a vow to get all stakeholders to be made answerable.

Chandra was administered the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine on 8th April and he later went for a Covid Antibody GT test from a government-approved lab. The results of test showed that not only did he not develop any antibodies against Covid-19, but, his platelets had also nosedived from 3 lakh to 1.5 lakh, which has further made him more susceptible to the disease.

Following this he has filed a complaint against all stakeholders including, Luv Agarwal, Joint Secretary in Union Health Ministry; Adar Poonawala, CEO of Serum Institute of India; Balram Bhargava, Director of ICMR; Aparna Upadhyay, Director of National Health Mission and the Head of Drugs Controller General of India.

AstraZeneca developed Covid-19 vaccine – Covishield - was granted Emergency Use Listing (EUL) by the World Health Organization (WHO) for active immunisation so as to prevent Covid-19 in individuals 18+ years, including those over 65. Later, in January 2021, the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) had approved this vaccine for restricted emergency use in the country.

The Indian Manufacturer of Covishield vaccine, Serum Institute of India (SII), claims that the vaccine is a recombinant, replication-deficient chimpanzee adenovirus vector encoding the SARS-CoV-2 Spike (S) glycoprotein. Following administration, the genetic material of part of coronavirus is expressed which stimulates an immune response.

Lucknow Police is yet to register an FIR based on this complaint.