Covishield's Chennai-based volunteer served a legal notice to the Serum Institute of India (SII) alleging neurological complications he developed after being administered a test dose of its Covidshield vaccine demands Rs 5 crore compensation is facing a counter from the SII demanding Rs 100 crore as damages to its reputation and terming his claims "malicious and misconceived in nature".

The Pune-based pharma giant claimed that "there is absolutely no correlation with the vaccine trial and the medical condition of the volunteer". "The allegations in the notice are malicious and misconceived. While the Serum Institute of India is sympathetic with the volunteer's medical condition, there is absolutely no correlation with the vaccine trial and the medical condition of the volunteer. The volunteer is falsely laying the blame for his medical problems on the Covid vaccine trial," reads SII statement.

"The claim is malicious because the volunteer was specifically informed by the medical team that the complications he suffered were independent of the vaccine trial he underwent. In spite of specifically being made aware of the same, he still chose to go public and malign the reputation of the company," it stated. SII warned such actions saying, "It is evident that the intention behind the spreading of such malicious information is an oblique pecuniary motive. The Serum Institute of India will seek damages in excess of 100 crore for the same and will defend such malicious claims". As per the notice, the 40 year old volunteer who is a business consultant taken shot on October 1 has been diagnosed with acute neuro encephalopathy. 

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