‘Covid-19 vaccines have many side effects’, Centre calls it “Erroneous Claim”

New Delhi: The Central government has denied media reports in which the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) acknowledged several side effects of Covid-19 vaccines.

Citing a response to an RTI query, media reports had claimed that the CDSCO and ICMR have “acknowledged several side effects of Covid-19 vaccines”.

An RTI was filed seeking a response from the government on the ill-effects of Covid-19 vaccines. Responding to the RTI query, the Union Health Ministry said in a statement, “We make it clear that the media report contains misinformation and contains incorrect information.”

“ICMR had released a list of benefits and drawbacks of COVID vaccines through reputed websites of World Health Organization, Centre for Disease Control (CDC) and Ministry of Health. The ministry also said that “it should be noted that ICMR has not commented on any document in response to the RTI”.

The health ministry statement said that there is a very small number of patients taking the corona vaccine who may have side effects of the vaccine due to a disease beforehand.

A global research study has shown that Covid-19 vaccination has helped reduce disease severity by preventing hospitalisation and deaths due to COVID-19.

In India, National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation has periodically reviewed the benefits and side effects of Covid vaccines used in the country and supported the above findings.