BHOPAL: Organisations working with Bhopal gas disaster victims on Sunday urged PM Modi to stop the clinical trial of Covaxin in Bhopal, alleging irregularities in process and protocol. The activists have written to the PM and Union health minister and marked copies to at least 20 government officials, demanding punishment for those who allegedly “neglected the safety and well-being of vaccine trial participants”.
They also demand to know why India’s drugs regulator approved emergency-use authorisation of Covaxin “almost a fortnight after a volunteer died in Bhopal”. The volunteer, Pradeep Marawi, died on December 21, nine days after taking the first dose in phase-3 of the Covaxin trial at People’s Medical College. The preliminary autopsy report suspected poisoning, and Bharat Biotech, the vaccine maker, has said the death is “unrelated to the trial dosing”.
TOI contacted Bharat Biotech for its reaction but got no response. “There are several factors that can cause an adverse event during a clinical trial, including the patient’s underlying disease, other pre-existing conditions or any other unrelated occurrence like an accident. This SAE has been thoroughly investigated and has been found not related to vaccine or placebo,” the company had said on Saturday.