The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has formally rejected a recent study conducted by Banaras Hindu University (BHU), which claimed that Covaxin increases the rare risk of stroke and Guillain-Barre syndrome, among other adverse effects, labeling the findings as “misleading.”
In a letter addressed to the Editor of the Drug Safety Journal based in New Zealand, the ICMR requested the retraction of the study on Covaxin’s side effects, citing that the apex research body was “incorrectly and misleadingly acknowledged in the paper.”
“The ICMR has no association with this study and has not provided any financial or technical support for this research,” the letter stated emphatically.
Furthermore, the ICMR expressed dissatisfaction over being acknowledged for research support without prior approval or notification, deeming it inappropriate and unacceptable.
Dr. Rajiv Bahl, Director General of ICMR, underscored in the letter that the apex research body cannot be linked with what he described as a poorly-designed study attempting to present a “safety analysis” of Covaxin.
Dr. Bahl urged the authors of the study and the editor of the journal to retract the acknowledgment to ICMR and publish a correction (erratum).
“We have observed similar unauthorized acknowledgments of ICMR in previous papers by the same authors,” Dr. Bahl noted, demanding an explanation from them as to why the ICMR should not pursue legal and administrative actions against them.
