'NO deaths due to COVID-19 vaccine', Health Min cites post mortem reports

New Delhi, January 19: Entering into the fourth day of the COVID-19 vaccine drive, India continues to face challenges regarding deaths post vaccination. While certain COVID centers reported deaths after receiving the vaccine in India, the Ministry of Health on Tuesday clarified that the deaths reported were not related to the vaccination itself, citing their post mortem reports.

 

Of the two deaths reported, death of the 52-year-old male from Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, who was vaccinated on January 16 and died on evening of January 17, is not related to vaccination as per the post mortem report, said Manohar Agnani, additional secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare adding that the death was caused due to cardiopulmonary disease. “Post mortem by a board of three doctors revealed death due to cardiopulmonary disease (pockets of pus in lungs, enlarged heart. The second death was of a male person aged 43 years, resident of Bellary, Karnataka. He was vaccinated on January 16 and died today. The cause of death is anterior wall infarction with Cardiopulmonary failure. The post mortem is scheduled today at Vijayanagar Institute of Medical Sciences, Bellary, Karnataka," Agnani said.

 

 

Amid the massive vaccine drive, at least 580 persons so far have reported Adverse Event Following Immunization with majority complaining fever, headache and nausea, according to the provisional data of ongoing vaccination drive. The government said that no case of serious or severe AEFI attributable to vaccination till date. An AEFI is any unexpected medical occurrence which follows immunization which may not be related to vaccine or vaccination process.

 

“Out of the total AEFI, seven have required hospitalization. Of the three cases reported from Delhi, two have been discharged whereas once case with reporting fainting is under observation at Max Hospital, Patparganj," said Agnani. “The reported case of AEFI in Uttarakhand is stable and under observation at AIIMS, Rishikesh. In Chhattisgarh, one person is under observation at the Govt. Medical College, Rajnandgaon. Of the two cases of AEFI in Karnataka, one is under observation at District Hospital, Chitradurga and the second person is under observation at General Hospital, Challakere, Chitradurga," he said.

 

So far, a total of 3,81,305 beneficiaries have been vaccinated for covid-19 in cumulative 7,704 sessions. Over 1,48,266 beneficiaries were vaccinated on Monday alone. Public health pros have noted that COVID-19 vaccination should be encouraged as vaccines don’t generally cause deaths and adverse effects are common. India has granted emergency use authorisation (EUA) to two COVID-19 vaccines, Pune-based Serum Institute of India’s Covishield and Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech International Ltd’s Covaxin which are being used in the government’s vaccination drive.

 

Around 76.17 per cenr of the new cases are from 6 States and UTs. Kerala continues to report the highest number of daily new cases at 5,005. It is followed by Maharashtra and Karnataka with 3,081 and 745 new cases, respectively. Seven States & UTs have reported 83.45 per cent of the total fatalities happened in the last 24 hours. Maharashtra has reported 50 deaths. Kerala also saw a fatality count of 21 while West Bengal reported 12 new deaths, the government said. The total number of COVID-19 cases on Monday stood at 1,05,72,672 and the toll climbed to 1,53,673.