Supreme Court notice to Centre on plea seeking disclosure of clinical trial data of Covid vaccines

The petition has been filed by Jacob Puliyel, former member of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization, seeking segregated data from the clinical trials of the vaccines that are part of the country's vaccination drive against Covid-19.

The Supreme Court on Monday issued a notice to the Centre on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) which has sought information on clinical trial data of Covid-19 vaccines, which have been given emergency use authorization (EUA) in the country.

The Supreme Court made it clear that it does not want to send “a signal on the safety of vaccines” as the country was already battling vaccine hesitancy, (Sanchit Khanna / HT Photo)

The petition has been filed by Jacob Puliyel, former member of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization, seeking segregated data from the clinical trials of the vaccines that are part of the country's vaccination drive against Covid-19.

The PIL, filed through advocate Prashant Bhushan, also asked the Supreme Court to direct the government to disclose post-vaccination data on adverse effects, on people who got infected with Covid post vaccination, those who needed hospitalisation and those who died. It also asked for the data to be widely publicised. The plea also challenged the vaccine mandates that forced people to be compulsorily vaccinated or lose their livelihood.

"In India, the manner in which the vaccines have been licensed vitiates and even precludes the possibility that the vaccines can be evaluated objectively in the future. Under these circumstances the petitioner is forced to appeal to this court for public disclosure of trial data and post-vaccination data, as required by international medical norms," the plea stated.

"In other countries, this type of observation has helped identify the occurrence of blood clots and strokes in vaccine recipients," the plea further said, adding that many countries stopped administering the vaccine till they evaluated this occurrence. "Countries like Denmark have completely banned the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine (branded as Covishield in India)."

The Supreme Court made it clear that it does not want to send “a signal on the safety of vaccines” as the country was already battling vaccine hesitancy, and pondering on safety of vaccines as it may create doubts in the minds of people on the safety of these vaccines. However, the court agreed to examine the issue as it saw an important question on personal autonomy to seek information vis-à-vis the right to public health. The matter will be heard after four weeks.