Vaccines were the only hope to save lives when the Covid pandemic erupted five years ago and terrorised the world. Today, however, reports about its side-effects are surfacing. In a way, this was only to be expected. The vaccines were developed in a hurry and injections delivered with hyper-speed because the situations warranted so. In the process, the usual time-line set for testing their safety was given short-shrift. Yet, the immediate purpose was served and life across continents came back to normalcy in two years. India administered over 2.2 billion doses, made mostly by some top pharmaceutical companies within the country. In a credit to India, this was exported to several nations as well by way of humanitarian assistance and commercial business. To have developed vaccines to face such a global surge in cases was in itself a remarkable feat for this nation. India earned a good name while China, from where the pandemic originated, was deeply hurt by the huge spread of the pandemic and its adverse global responses.
While these were things of the past, reports based on research into the after-effects of these vaccines confirm the health issues confronting a huge mass of people. A report says over 30 percent of those who took Covaxin – one of the two top vaccines developed by Indian pharmaceutical firms; the other being Covishield – suffered adverse events of special interest (AESI) after one year. Respiratory tract complaints were among the main symptoms, as per researchers from Banaras Hindu University, who interviewed nearly a thousand persons. One-third of them confirmed they faced such health problems. Covid19 by itself caused mild to severe respiratory illness, even death. India faced over half a million deaths.
Unofficially, several deaths these days are suspected to be caused by the after-effects of Covid19 or ill-effects of the vaccination. Those who took all three doses seemed to face increased risk as per some research findings. Sudden deaths are seen to be increasing even among the younger population, including those with no serious health complaints. At official levels, no serious study seemed to have been conducted as to the health-related after-effects of Covid19 or the administration of the vaccine. The central government must investigate this matter and if the adverse effects are confirmed, it must seek a remedy thereof too, just as it did to arrest the pandemic spread. Reports from Singapore spoke of a recurrence of the Covid19 spread there and of over 25,000 persons having been affected in the small island nation. This sends a warning signals to India too. The health of the people is the first priority. It is important to allay fears in this respect vis-a-vis the after-effects.
