Amid Covishield row, Chandy Oommen justifies reluctance to take Oommen Chandy for Covid jab

Kottayam:  Puthuppally MLA Chandy Oommen has come up with an explanation for denying Covid vaccine for his father former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy amid the heated debate on the side effects of Covishield, a popular vaccine against the contagious disease. Taking to his Facebook page on Wednesday, he justified that he was afraid to take his sick father to receive vaccine as he was apprehensive of its side effects. Condemning the allegations against his family over denying proper medical care to his father, he demanded an apology from the people behind it. 

“ No other son should face such a situation. Those who were behind the allegation should apologise to the Kerala society,” Chandy told media here after his Facebook live.

“ We only avoided the vaccine. But he had undergone all other treatments for his disease. The media which circulated the news on denial of treatment to Oommen Chandy must issue an apology,” he added.

During the Puthuppally bypoll, the LDF had used the alleged denial of treatment to the former CM as a weapon against the UDF.

The vaccine row
UK-headquartered pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca has admitted that in "very rare cases", its COVID-19 vaccine can cause a blood clot-related side-effect but the causal link is unknown, according to court papers being quoted in the UK media. The Daily Telegraph reported that in a legal document submitted to the High Court in London in February for a group action brought by 51 claimants, AstraZeneca admitted that the vaccine developed with the University of Oxford to protect against COVID-19 may cause Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (TTS) in "very rare cases".

The AstraZeneca Vaxzevria vaccine, also manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, was marketed in India as Covishield. It was the major vaccine administered to people across India.