News item attributed to French virologist is wrong; COVID vaccines are safe: Experts
Srinagar: Reacting to the news item spread in the name of French virologist Luc Montagnier that “vaccine causes death”, Principal, Government Medical College (GMC), Srinagar, Dr Samia Rashid Saturday termed it a “wrong information” spread against vaccination.
She said that vaccine is the only biggest protection for all humans against the Covid-19 disease.
Urging people not to pay heed to any such information spread against vaccine, she said that people should come forward and get vaccinated to stay safe against this virus.
She also said that a vaccinated person has less chances of getting infected. Even if a vaccinated person gets infected with Covid-19, the severity of the disease will be less and the person has high chances to recover and fight the virus better in comparison to the one who has not been vaccinated.
Pertinently, a news item claiming those who have been vaccinated will “die within a period of two years” and attributed to the French virologist and Noble laureate, Luc Montagnier, has stoked fear and anxiety among people about vaccination. However, the doctors have termed the news item as fake and said that vaccine is safe and grants protection against the coronavirus.
Elaborating on it, Dr. S. Muhammad Salim Khan, Professor and HOD, Community Medicine, at GMC Srinagar said that the vaccine does not cause Antibody-dependent Enhancement (ADE).
He said that over 180 crore doses of COVID vaccines have been given till date worldwide and there is no evidence of ADE reported anywhere in the world.
He said that ADE is an acute condition and its association with COVID vaccines would have definitely caused global concern till date.
Dr. Khan said that during various phases of vaccine trials, no such phenomenon has been reported with any COVID vaccine anywhere and any such apprehension of having ADE causing deaths in near future among COVID vaccine recipients needs a reassurance that COVID vaccination is safe and there’s no threat of future deaths due to ADE after receiving COVID vaccines.
He also said the vaccine safe and instead millions of lives have been saved due to COVID vaccination globally.
Dr. Khan urged people not to listen to any person about unforeseen circumstances when there is scientific evidence that COVID vaccines are safe and highly protective against COVID infection and severity.
“We need to reach out and get every eligible person vaccinated alongside following COVID-appropriate behaviour so that there’s no emergence of next COVID wave,” he added.
