In a series of tweets, Prashant Bhushan had claimed that healthy young people have a higher chance of dying due to COVID-19 vaccines when compared to deaths due to the disease itself.

news Controversy Tuesday, June 29, 2021 - 15:06
TNM Staff

Twitter, on Monday, blocked Supreme Court lawyer and activist Prashant Bhushan’s account for 12 hours after flagging his tweets on COVID-19 vaccines. In a series of tweets, Prashant Bhushan had claimed that healthy young people have a higher chance of dying due to COVID-19 vaccines when compared to deaths due effects of the disease. Twitter flagged the tweet as ‘misleading’. Meanwhile, many health experts have come out against Bhushan’s statement.

In his tweets on Monday, Bhushan had said, “The healthy young have hardly any chance of serious effects or dying due to covid. They have a higher chance of dying due to vaccines. The covid recovered have much better natural immunity than the vaccine gives them. Vaccines may even compromise their acquired natural immunity. (sic)” This tweet was marked as ‘misleading’ by Twitter.

Following criticisms, Bhushan again took to Twitter, saying that he is not anti-vaccine, but rather he believed it is “irresponsible to promote universal vaccination of experimental and untested vaccines especially to young and Covid recovered” persons. In another tweet, sharing a detailed statement on the matter titled ‘Why I am a vaccine skeptic’, Bhushan said that he was shocked to see the attempts to censor contrarian views. 

Sharing links of various reports, Bhushan said in his statement that there are vested interests to “drum up fear around the pandemic to promote lockdown and vaccines.” He further stated how Covaxin, which has been administered to “over two crore people," was refused emergency approval by the Food and Drug Administration in the US, and is also excluded from the World Health Organisation’s emergency use list.

“Critical phase three trials for these vaccines are yet to be completed. We have filed a petition seeking transparency in the clinical trial data for vaccines given emergency use authorization in India and against mandating such vaccines for accessing any services. Simultaneously, Bharat Biotech has begun trials on a small cohort of children across hospitals in India raising concerns by experts about the small size of trial participants as well as that the trial doesn't use a placebo arm,” he said.

He further asked whether the views of “credible doctors and medical scientists questioning the use of these vaccines, appealing and cautioning governments to halt these vaccine campaigns, be dismissed as crack-pot conspiracy theories?” This tweet was also flagged by Twitter as ‘misleading’. 

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, Dr NK Arora, Chairman of the Centre's COVID-19 working group, reportedly reacted to Bhushan’s tweets saying that his tweets do no good and that the government has a system in place to track post COVID-19 complications.

Read: FAQ: Are COVID-19 vaccines safe?

Criticising Bhushan, many health experts also took to Twitter, saying that he is spreading misinformation. 

“Don’t take my advice on legal matters. I have no law degree. Don’t listen @pbhushan1 for medical advice. He has no medical degree. #Misinformation Not sure what he means 'hardly any chance of serious effect'. Ask people and families which have suffered. Don’t take chances. Get Vaccinated,” tweeted Chandrakant Lahariya, an expert in medicine and public policy.

Dr Rijo M John, a health economist, tweeted, “I have huge respect for @pbhushan1. But I'd strongly advise him not to make statements of this kind which can only hinder India's struggle to vaccinate even the most vulnerable. This is the nth time he is making such irresponsible statements on #COVID19vaccines”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read:

What vaccine hesitancy means among Hyderabad’s poor

Why anti-vaccine propagators in Kerala have fewer takers amid COVID-19 pandemic

Tamil Nadu is vaccinating Sri Lankan Tamil refugees but hesitancy a major hurdle

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