Chennai, November 29: A 40-year-old business consultant in Chennai, who was administered with the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine during the third phase of trials, has sought Rs 5 crore as compensation. In his legal notice sent to all parties involved, the man claimed that he suffered from "serious neurological and psychological" issues after being administered with the vaccine.

The experimental vaccine shot was administered to him at the Chennai-based Ramachandra Higher Education and Research on October 1. Shortly after being given the shot, the man claimed, he developed neurological and psychological symptoms. Covishield Vaccine: Emergency Use Authorisation Request in Two Weeks, Govt Likely to Buy 300-400 Million Doses by July, Says Adar Poonawalla.

On November 21, he sent a legal notice to all the stakeholders seeking a compensation of Rs 5 crore, along with the suspension of Oxford vaccine trials and the planned distribution.

The notice, sent through his legal team, was dispatched to Director General, ICMR, Drugs Controller General of India, Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation, CEO, AstraZeneca UK, Professor Andrew Pollard, Chief Investigator, Oxford Vaccine Trial and Vice Chancellor of Sri Ramachandra Higher Education and Research.

"Our client states that he must be compensated, in the least, for all the sufferings that he and his family have undergone and are likely to undergo in future," it read.

"He further states that he is still far from being all right and has to be under medical care for a long time to come. Therefore, for all the trauma he is undergoing and with an uncertain future in his health, he should be given a financial compensation of Rs. 5 crores within two weeks from the receipt of this notice," the notice further stated.

The notice also said that testing, manufacturing and the distribution of the vaccine should also be stopped immediately, "failing which he has no other option except to take appropriate legal action against all the concerned parties, who would be made responsible for all the costs and consequences".

Dr Samiran Panda, who heads the Epidemiology and Communicable  Diseases (ECD) division of the ICMR, said the causal link, if any, of the serious adverse events with the investigational product is objectively assessed in any clinical trial following a pre-defined scientific pathway and within a stipulated period.

"Any hurried inquiry or inference is prone to be wrong. Both the institutional ethics committee and the DCGI are investigating the causal links, if any, between the adverse events and investigational product, which is an anti-coronavirus vaccine," Dr Panda said.

The DCGI had on September 11 directed Serum Institute of India (SII) to suspend any new recruitment in phase 2 and 3 clinical trials of the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine candidate till further orders in the backdrop of pharma giant AstraZeneca pausing the clinical trials in other countries because of "an unexplained illness" in a participant in the study. However, on September 15 it permitted the Serum Institute of India to recommence the trial.

(With PTI inputs)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 29, 2020 05:24 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).