AstraZeneca succeeds in striking out suit over Covid-19 vaccine effects

KUALA LUMPUR: AstraZeneca Sdn Bhd has succeeded in its bid to strike out a suit filed against it by 12 individuals involving claims of side effects from the Covid-19 vaccine, which allegedly caused serious consequences, including death.

High Court judge Dr Suzana Muhamad Said allowed the application of AstraZeneca as the seventh defendant to quash the suit, which was filed last year.

Lawyer Hemalatha Ramulu, representing AstraZeneca, confirmed the matter after the online hearing on Tuesday (Nov 28), which was also attended by counsel Muhammad Shahrin Satheer, who represented all the plaintiffs.

Last year, a group of Malaysians filed a lawsuit against the government, the Health Ministry and Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar, the minister in charge of the country's vaccination programme at the time, as the first to third defendants.

The suit also named former Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah and three Covid-19 vaccine producers – Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Pharmaniaga – as the fourth to seventh defendants.

In the statement of claim, all the plaintiffs claimed the ministry issued an invalid declaration and coerced agreement by the defendants to shield them from being held accountable for severe Covid-19 vaccine injection side effects.

The plaintiffs demanded that the defendants be held responsible for the side effects of the coronavirus vaccine injections, including severe complications leading to death, permanent disability, and other complications resulting in losses.

They also sought general and special damages due to the aforementioned side effects.

Furthermore, the plaintiffs insisted on all subsequent vaccines undergoing clinical trials, with complete reports on the effectiveness of the Covid-19 vaccines in controlling the pandemic's spread.

The plaintiffs also called for a temporary restriction on administering the vaccine to Malaysians until clinical studies are conducted with detailed reports presented. – Bernama