A government hospital employee in Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh died after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, but the Chief Medical Officer said that this is unrelated to the jab.
Ward Boy Mahipal Singh passed away after complaining of chest congestion and breathlessness. His family said that he had been unwell before the jab. MC Garg, Moradabad’s chief medical officer, told reporters late last night that he was vaccinated on Saturday around noon. On Sunday he felt breathless and complained of chest congestion. We are inquiring into the reasons of the death. We will get a post mortem done. It does not seem to be a reaction to vaccination. He did night duty on Saturday too and there were no problems.
Mahipal Singh had taken a shot of the SII-AstraZeneca developed coronavirus vaccine on January 16 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination programme. 70.89 per cent of the targeted beneficiaries have been vaccinated in the past two days.
Dr MC Garg, the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Moradabad district told the portal “Mahipal Singh was given the Covishield vaccine at about 12 noon on Saturday. On Sunday afternoon he suffered pain in the chest with breathlessness. He worked the night shift after the vaccination and we don’t think the death is due to any side effect of the vaccine.” The CMO also stated that they are trying to identify the exact cause of the death from the autopsy results.
According to the postmortem report, the immediate cause of the death was cardiogenic shock/septicemic shock due to cardio-pulmonary disease. Singh’s son told the media that he may have been unwell before the vaccination, but he felt worse after taking the shot.
My father left the vaccination centre at around 1.30 pm. He was feeling breathless and he was coughing and had a bit of pneumonia. He however started feeling worse after he returned home, his son Vishal told the media.
His father had asked him to come pick him up from the hospital after getting the vaccination because he was unable to ride his two-wheeler back home. On reaching home, Mahipal was asked to rest by his family members because he had experienced breathlessness and coughing. His health deteriorated and was taken to the hospital on Sunday, where he was declared dead. “I feel it was the side effects of the vaccination,” Vishal alleged.
Around 479 health workers in Moradabad and 22,643 health workers in Uttar Pradesh were vaccinated on Saturday, the first day of India’s vaccination drive. The next round of vaccinations in the state will be conducted on January 22, 2021.
On day 1 of the nationwide immunisation programme against COVID-19, India vaccinated 1,91,181 healthcare and frontline workers and a couple of adverse events were reported. Adverse events were reported from Delhi and Rajasthan after the vaccine shots were administered on Day1.
On day 2 of nationwide coronavirus inoculation drive, 2, 24,301 beneficiaries were administered the coronavirus vaccine. Out of these, only 447 adverse events following immunisation (AEFI) were reported , according to the Health Ministry. Out of these, three vaccine recipients needed hospital care.
Written by – GARIMA ARORA