Skip to main content

Political consensus? Celebrations, with over 5,000 plus post-vaccine deaths in India

By Rosamma Thomas* 

As India fully vaccinated nearly 20% of its population and celebrated the “milestone” of administering one billion (100 crore) Covid-19 vaccine doses, it was time to remember those who died shortly after vaccination. By October 20, 2021 Twitter handle C400T, tracking deaths reported to have occurred after receiving the Covid-19 shot in India, updated the 5,134th death.
Earlier, in April this year, it was reported that 700 cases of serious adverse reactions to the vaccine would be investigated. The results of that probe are not yet available. Meanwhile, in the US, over four lakh cases of adverse reactions were reported by July 2021. In the European Union, at least 66 deaths were reported by April 2021, months after the vaccine was first launched.
Despite the obvious – and not rare – adverse reactions, there is no sign that the decision to vaccinate will be reviewed. Across the world, there is a call for vaccinating larger and larger numbers of people, even though a large percentage of the global population is most likely protected by natural infection now.
There are scientists who hold that the best protected are those who have once been infected – natural infection is held to be far superior to vaccine-induced immunity, which both wears off with time and protects only partially, leaving even the vaccinated prone to infection.
Awaken India Movement, which is campaigning to prevent the vaccination of children and pregnant women without first studying the long-term impact of such an intervention, has been petitioning the President and Prime Minister to review the need for the vaccine. 
Never before in history has an experiment with a drug been carried out on such a scale, the movement’s website records. This group has been sending weekly updates to the President and the Prime Minister, noting the number of post-vaccine deaths and seeking a halt in vaccination until proper safety studies are carried out and more data is obtained of long-term effects. AIM is also collecting testimonials of the affected.
Awaken India Movement has been campaigning to prevent vaccination of children and pregnant women without studying its long-term impact
Pune resident Moinuddin, who works with a local packer and mover company, took the first dose of Covishield on September 20, 2021. He said: 
“I would not have taken it at all, and was convinced that there was no need for it. I had to travel to Dubai by December, and was forced to get the jab in order to be allowed to travel. Just days after the jab, I had clots on my arms and near the neck, and even on the legs. There were visible clot marks, and I was itching a great deal. I also felt weak and did not want to report to work. There is no way now that I will take the second dose. The fact that this jab does not suit me is something I know better than anyone else, no matter what the propaganda is.”
Seventy-year-old KV Dominic received the jab in April. By August, a lump on the neck of this resident of Pala, Kerala, was diagnosed as cancer. “They tell me that it cannot be connected to the jab,” he says. Dominic has had a lifetime of good health so far; he would often be complimented for appearing younger than his age, and he did a great deal of manual work on his farm. A doctor in Idaho, US, reported that there was a huge spike in cancer cases at his pathology laboratory ever since the rollout of the vaccine.
Despite all the data-gathering by private citizens and groups, however, there is political consensus that the way out of the so-called “pandemic” is through the vaccine. The government and Opposition parties in India are both agreed on this, and questioning the need for the vaccine is not allowed in the mainstream media. Globally, doctors opposing mass vaccination find their licence to practice at risk.
Something is rotten. And not in the state of Denmark.
---
*Freelance journalist based in Pune

Comments

TRENDING

Beyond India-China borders: Economic links expand, political gaps persist

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak*  Despite growing trade between India and China, a persistent trust deficit continues to shape their bilateral relationship. Expanding economic engagement has not fully resolved political differences, many of which stem from historical legacies as well as contemporary geopolitical concerns. Border disputes—often traced to colonial-era arrangements—remain a significant obstacle to deeper cooperation, while differing strategic alignments in global affairs add further complexity.

GreenTech Summit claims NCR as key green building hub, without pan-India comparison

By A Representative   The Indian Green Building Council (IGBC), under the Confederation of Indian Industry, held its GreenTech Summit 2026 in New Delhi, where industry representatives, policymakers and sustainability professionals discussed the adoption of climate technologies in India’s built environment.

Gujarat cadre to HDFC: When bureaucratic style hits corporate walls

By Rajiv Shah   I was a little amused by the abrupt March 17, 2026 resignation of Atanu Chakraborty —a Gujarat cadre IAS officer of the 1985 batch who retired from the government in 2020—as chairman of HDFC Bank . Much of what may have led to his decision to quit this ostensibly high post—actually a non-executive, part-time role—is by now well known. I followed most of it online with considerable interest, partly because I had interacted with him umpteen times during my stint as The Times of India correspondent in Gandhinagar from 1997 to 2012.

Operation Epic Fury: Making America great at the world’s expense?

By N.S. Venkataraman*  ​The decades-long enmity between Iran and Israel is well-documented, but historically, their direct confrontations have been brief, constrained by the logistical and economic limitations of sustained warfare. The current conflict in the Middle East, however, marks a radical and dangerous departure from this pattern. 

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Rajiv Shah  Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

India has been getting its economic growth wrong for two decades, say top economists

By Jag Jivan*   India's official GDP figures have misrepresented the trajectory of the world's fifth-largest economy for the better part of two decades, according to a major new working paper published by the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE). It finds that India overstated annual growth by up to two percentage points after 2011 — and understated it during the boom years of the 2000s.

'Tax the top': Nationwide protests demand action as 1% control 40% of India’s wealth

By A Representative   Civil rights groups across the country observed the martyrdom day of Bhagat Singh on March 23, as people from diverse backgrounds united to raise their voices against growing economic inequality. The mobilisations marked the launch of a nationwide campaign against inequality, running from March 23 to April 14 (Ambedkar Jayanti), under the banner of the “Tax The Top” campaign.

Beyond the election manifesto: Why climate is now a kitchen table issue

By Vikas Meshram*  March has long been a month of gentle transition, the period when winter softly retreats and a mild warmth signals nature’s renewal. Yet, in recent years, this dependable rhythm has been disrupted. This year, since the beginning of March, temperatures across vast swathes of the country have shattered previous records, soaring to between 35 and 40 degrees Celsius in some regions. This is not a mere fluctuation in the weather; it is a serious and alarming indicator of climate change .