Stop trial of Covaxin in Bhopal, demand NGOs

Allege that gas tragedy survivors forced to volunteer

Bhopal gas tragedy survivors on Sunday demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi to halt the ongoing trial of Covaxin, the indigenously developed Covid-19 vaccine, in view of ‘violation of laws and guidelines’.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, four NGOs, comprising Bhopal gas tragedy survivors, said, “We are writing to you to apprise you of the ground situation with regard to conduct of the trial.

Evidence has emerged that the trial in Bhopal is being conducted in gross violation of laws and guidelines governing clinical trials in India.

“This is leading to exploitation and harm to a community of people that are not just economically and socially deprived, but whose health is compromised owing to the destructive impact and its consequences”, they said.

The NGOs alleged that vulnerable people were being misguided and herded to participate in the trials and the consent procedure and other protocol of testing was being thrown to winds.

“The clinical trial (of the vaccine) should be stopped forthwith and an impartial probe be conducted”, they said.

According to Rasheeda Bee, a gas tragedy survivor and social activist, at least 700 out of the 1,700 people on whom this vaccine was being tested, were those poisoned by the Union Carbide gas leak in 1984.

“One gas victim died within 10 days of getting the trial shot and many continue to have health complaints of a serious nature”, she alleged. A Covaxin volunteer died nine days after he took the shot, she said.

Meanwhile, Bharat Biotech, a partner in the development of the Covaxin, has issued a statement saying that the volunteer’s death was not related to the vaccine.

In a statement issued here, People’s College of Medical Science and Research Centre, said the postmortem report conducted on the deceased by Medico Legal Institute cited that the cause of death was cardiorespiratory failure because of suspected poisoning.