580 Adverse Reactions, Two Deaths Not Linked to Vaccine: Centre On Day 3

Coronavirus: 3,81,305 healthcare workers have been vaccinated so far.

New Delhi:

A total of 3.8 lakh people have been vaccinated since the rollout of the coronavirus vaccines three days ago, the government said today. Among them, 580 cases of adverse reactions have been observed and seven persons have been hospitalized. Two persons have died also but neither deaths are related to vaccines, the government said.

A death was reported from Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh last evening. Mahipal Singh, 46, a ward boy at a government hospital, had received the vaccine shot 24 hours before. The district’s Chief Medical Officer has said the death is unrelated to vaccination.

The postmortem report reveals the immediate cause of death as “cardiogenic shock/septicemic shock” due to “cardio-pulmonary disease”, the state government said. According to his family, he had been unwell before the jab.

The second person to die was a 43-year-old man in Karnataka’s Bellary. The government said he had died of cardio-pulmonary failure. The postmortem is yet to be done, the government said.

Later in the evening, Karnataka health minister K Sudhakar said the man did not suffer a heart attack because of vaccine. “The man had massive heart attack. He had history of diabetes and co morbidity,” he said, adding that the man was administered the vaccine on Saturday and had no symptoms till late.

“He came to the office in the morning and complained of chest pain,” he said.

Of the seven people hospitalized, three are from Delhi. Two persons have been discharged and one is under observation at Max Hospital. Two cases have been reported from Karnataka, one of the patients is still under observation.

One person is under observation in Uttarakhand, at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences in Rishikesh. Another person is hospitalized in Chhattisgarh’s Rajanandgaon.

The World Health Organisation defines AEFI or Adverse Events Following Immunisation as any untoward medical occurrence which follows immunisation and does not necessarily have a causal relationship with the usage of the vaccine.

Of the 3,81,305 healthcare workers vaccinated so far, 1,48,266 were administered the vaccine today. Today’s drive took place across 25 states — the corresponding figure yesterday was six. Every state has its own schedule and target for each vaccination site. Most states target vaccinating 100 beneficiaries each day at each site. In Telangana, the figure is 30.  

Roughly one crore health workers and two crore frontline workers will receive the vaccine initially. Later, it would be the turn of 27 crore people who are either above the age of 50 years or suffer from co-morbidities like diabetes and hypertension.