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The Delhi High Court today issued notice on a petition by a cancer patient alleging adverse effects due to administration of the first dose of Covishield vaccine for Covid-19 and seeking permission to take Covaxin as the second dose of Covid-19 vaccination instead of Covishield. The plea seeks appropriate directions to the Centre in this regard.

The single judge bench of Justice Rekha Palli sought response of the Centre through Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on the matter, remarking, "We'll see what we can do."

The bench further observed that according to the petitioner after administration of the first dose of Covishield the petitioner claimed to have faced adverse effects for which he had to undergo further specialized treatment, therefore, it asked experts to consider the matter owing to the special facts and circumstances of the case.

The petitioner, one Madhur Mittal in his petition filed through Adv. Sanjay S Chhabra, stated that in March this year, he had got his first dose of Covishield vaccine, pursuant to which he got severe adverse effects leading to hospitalization in Max Hospital, Saket, Delhi for 4 days. Following this, he has been advised by doctors to take Covaxin as the second dose, instead of Covishield.

However, when the petitioner tried to book a slot for the 2nd dose as Covaxin on cowin.gov.in, in terms of the doctor's prescription, he was not able to book the same, as the said web-application only books slot for vaccination as per prior doses, i.e. for a person who took the 1st dose as Covishield, a slot for the 2nd dose of Covishield only can be booked.

The petitioner went on to speak for the public at large, stating, that though as "per the government advisory, respondents have advised the public at large to take both doses of the Covid-19 vaccine of the same company," there are "cases where mixing of Covid-19 vaccine of different brands have given better results."

Case Title: Madhur Mittal v Union of India