After the side effects of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine (Covishield in India) came to light, people have many questions in their minds regarding other vaccines as well. After the reports regarding Covishield, a recent study conducted by Banaras Hindu University (BHU) has also cautioned people about the side effects caused by Covaxin. However, now a new controversy has arisen regarding this study.

On Monday, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Director General Dr. Rajiv Bahl expressed his objection to the BHU study and said that we should not be associated with this poorly designed study.

According to the NI report, the ICMR Director General said ICMR cannot be linked to this poorly designed study, which aims to present a 'safety analysis' of Covaxin. Not only this, he has written a letter to the authors of the paper and the editor of the magazine asking that the name of ICMR be removed from it and a corrigendum should also be published in this regard.

ICMR raised questions
ICMR has also raised questions on the poor methodology and design of this study by BHU.

It is noteworthy that earlier this month, a team of BHU researchers presented the report of a one-year study on Covaxin manufactured by Bharat Biotech. According to the study, about one-third of people who received the Covaxin vaccine reported adverse events (AESIs). AESI refers to adverse events.

The study highlights that most AESI cases require detailed study.

What was found in the BHU study?
Nearly one-third of people who received Bharat Biotech's vaccine Covaxin reported multiple side effects a year later, according to a one-year follow-up study by a team of researchers at BHU. In a study conducted on 926 participants, about 50 percent also complained of infection during the research period. Skin-related problems were seen in 10.5 percent of people, general disorders in 10.2 percent, and nerve-related problems in 4.7 percent.

The vaccine started with AstraZeneca's statement
The question-and-answer issue regarding COVID-19 vaccines started when vaccine manufacturer AstraZeneca admitted in a British court that its vaccine can cause a problem called thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) in rare circumstances. TTS is a blood clotting problem that increases the risk of heart attack and brain stroke.

In this sequence, BHU had said in its study report that not only Covishield but also Covaxin is not completely safe. Due to this, many types of problems are being seen among the people.

(PC: ISTOCK)