Gujarat Congress president Shaktisinh Gohil on Wednesday accused the Centre of not keeping a check on the health parameters of those who were administered Covishield vaccine. He requested the Supreme Court and the Gujarat High Court to take suo moto cognizance of the deaths post vaccination.
Recently, AstraZeneca, which developed Covishield, admitted in the UK court that it can cause rare side effects. Covishield was produced by the Serum Institute of India.
Addressing media persons at the Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan in Ahmedabad, he said each single life is priceless and what has happened is equivalent to crime under IPC 304.
Gohil, also Rajya Sabha MP, said that instead of asking Central Research Institute, established in 1905, to manufacture the vaccine, the government entrusted the task to the Serum Institute and Bharat Biotech. In fact, the government gave as advance Rs 3,000 crore to the Serum Institute and Rs 1500 crore to Bharat Biotech to set up infrastructure, he said.
He questioned why the Government did not follow the emergency guidelines given by the World Health Organization in 2023 with regards to COVID vaccine. While the WHO asked to keep a check on health parameters, the data was not collected, the Congress leader alleged. Gohil said that other countries kept a tab on health parameters. Lives could have been saved had India kept a tab on health parameters, he added.
Gohil demanded that the BJP should come out clean on how much money it has received from these companies. He also said that the amount be given as compensation to the kin of those who died post-vaccination.
Quoting AstraZeneca’s admission that it can cause thrombocytopenia syndrome, Gohil alleged that the government is shielding the companies because it gave money to the BJP.
The vaccine wasn’t free, the money was from our pockets, the Congress leader said, alleging that it was political publicity to say that the vaccine was free.
Also Read: Urban Naxal to Amit Shah, AAP Bharuch candidate tops ADR’s Gujarat criminal cases list
