Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla on Saturday asked the government to protect vaccine makers from frivolous lawsuits alleging side-effects as the vaccines are being rolled out to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

The government needs to indemnify vaccine manufacturers against all lawsuits to dispel the frivolous claims made on its side-effects, and should step in to spread the right message across, said Poonawalla at the virtually held Global Technology Summit 2020 on Saturday.

Poonawalla’s comment came after a Chennai-based volunteer claimed neurological and psychological adverse effects as a result of taking a dose of the Oxford vaccine Covishield being developed by AstraZeneca and Serum Institute of India(SII). The volunteer demanded the manufacturing and distribution of the vaccine be stopped immediately, in addition, sought Rs. 5 crores as compensation.

Following which SII had sent a legal notice to the volunteer to safeguard the reputation which was unfairly maligned. The company filed Rs 100 crore defamation case against the volunteer. SII sought damages for malicious and misconceived allegations.

However, the government on Tuesday had said protocols have been set up to manage adverse effects of coronavirus vaccines from minor, severe to serious, admitting that there would always be the possibility of adverse reactions after immunisation.

Meanwhile, the Covishield vaccine has been approved for emergency use authorisation by the Drugs Controller General of India for its use for the first phase vaccination program. The vaccine will reportedly be available for Rs 250 per dose. It will be offered first to health workers, frontline workers, and people above aged 50 as per guidelines issued by the Central government.

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So far, India has recorded 10 million coronavirus cases. Out of which 95.5 million people have been recovered from the infectious disease. The total number of fatalities registered was over 1 lakh. Among these states like Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala registered the highest number of Covid-19 cases.

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