Covid is again in the limelight due to various claims made recently about side effects of Covishield vaccine – one of the two vaccines used most commonly to vaccinate the people against Covid-19.
The ruckus started when AstraZeneca openly acknowledged that its Covid vaccine, Covishield, can lead to rare side effects including Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (TTS). This led to a lot of opinions shared on social media platforms including few popular Bollywood celebrities too sharing their voice on the matter.
B-town celebrities reaction on Covishield’s side-effects revealation
Bigg boss fame actress Rashmi Desai shared her concern in a cryptic post stating “To ab darna hai ki nahi Talwar toh… abhhi latak Rahi halee.” (Now it’s time to be afraid or not, the sword is still hanging) While Gauahar Khan also wrote, “Oh my god” exhibiting her shock.
On the other hand, Pooja Bhatt shared an Instagram story with the information about the Covishield vaccine side effect and the rare condition it can cause.
She wrote “AstraZeneca has accepted for the first time that its Covid-19 vaccines, Covishield and Vaxzevria, in rare cases can cause Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (TTS). TTS is a rare condition in which blood clots form in unusual places in the body, and the number of platelets in the blood drops. The pharma giant is facing a class-action suit in the UK alleging its vaccine caused deaths and severe injuries.” Imlie fame television actress Ritu Chaudhary also reacted on the news in a post stating “Hence the many many lives lost due to heart attacks post Covid!!!!!.”
In fact, in a recent interview, actor Shreyas Talpade who had a narrow escape from the jaws of death due to a heart attack on Dec 14 last year, shared the possibility of it being linked to vaccine side-effects. He said that he lives quite a healthy lifestyle and yet suffered from a heart attack, forcing him to “not negate the theory of vaccine side-effects”
AstraZeneca’s confession sparks concerns
Covishield was widely administered in India and after the shocking statement released by AstraZeneca, people are worried about their health and lives especially those who took the vaccine.
People are questioning the Union government, blaming them for allowing the TTS induced Covishield vaccine to be administered on people keeping their lives at risk. Many also considered the government responsible for the deaths of the people during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Taking this as an opportunity to attack the central government, the opposition and Congress party has kept forward serious allegations stating that the country did not follow the guidelines provided by WHO in spite of the alert in 2023 citing it as a case of criminal negligence. They also demanded that the families of the people who have died due to heart attack or anything related to it should be paid compensation.
This follows after the British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company, AstraZeneca who developed the Covishield vaccine is facing backlash as it has openly accepted in legal documents that in rare cases, Covishield vaccine can cause a disease called the Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (TTS) which is characterized by blood clots and low blood platelets count. It is reported to be occur in rare cases as a result of certain type of vaccine and other causes. Its symptoms include extreme headache, abdominal pain, leg swelling, shortness of breath, and neurodevelopmental diseases.
It was claimed that Covishield vaccine caused 51 death cases. However, a fact check by The Healthy Indian Project (THIP) indicates that the claim is not entirely true and the probability of catching the disease is true but “very rare”.
“Our sympathy goes out to anyone who has lost loved ones or reported health problems. Patient safety is our highest priority, and regulatory authorities have clear and stringent standards to ensure the safe use of all medicines, including vaccines, an AstraZeneca spokesperson said amidst side effect concerns”, a spokesperson from AstraZeneca stated in response to the controversy.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2023 said in its report that “TTS emerged as a new adverse event following immunisation in individuals vaccinated with COVID-19 non-replicant adenovirus vector-based vaccines. This refers to the AstraZeneca COVID-19 ChAdOx-1 vaccine and the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) Janssen COVID-19 Ad26.COV2-S vaccines.”
