Health Ministry says no deaths due to COVID-19 vaccination

Union Health Ministry said that there have been no deaths due to COVID-19 vaccination in the country and a cumulative of 580 Adverse Events Following Immunisation (AEFIs) have been reported.

New Delhi: The Union Health Ministry on Monday said that no death has been reported from any state following Covid-19 vaccination. The ministry aims to complete the vaccination process of 30 crore health care and frontline workers by next 6 months.

Additional secretary in the Health Ministry Manohar Agnani said that 580 cases of Adverse event following immunization (AEFI) have been reported in the country so far. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), AEFI is any untoward medical occurrence which follows immunization and which does not necessarily have a causal relationship with the usage of the vaccine. If not rapidly and effectively dealt with, can undermine confidence in a vaccine and ultimately have dramatic consequences for immunization coverage and disease incidence.

"Seven people including 3 in Delhi, 1 in Uttarakhand, 1 in Chhatisgarh, and 2 in Karnataka have been hospitalised. There is no case of serious AEFI attributable to vaccination till date," said Agnani.

Agnani clarified that deaths of two people- one in Moradabad (UP) and another in Bellary (Karnataka)- were not related to Covid-19 vaccination. He said that a 52-year-old man from Moradabad who was vaccinated on January 16 died the next day. "Post mortem by a board of three doctors revealed death due to cardiopulmonary disease (pockets of pus in lungs, enlarged heart) and not related to vaccination," he said, adding that 43-year-old man from Bellary died on January 18 due to anterior wall infarction with cardiopulmonary failure. Agnani said that 3,81,305 beneficiaries (health care workers) have been vaccinated for Covid-19 in 7,704 sessions till date.

READ: 'India made vaccines to save humanity from Chinese-made virus'

It may be mentioned here that government target to vaccinate 100 people in one session. "Today 1,48,266 people got vaccinated in 25 states and UTs," he said. Karnataka carried out the maximum vaccination today with 36,888 followed by Odisha 22,579. In West Bengal, 11,588 people were vaccinated whereas 10,352 people were vaccinated in Telangana.

Session sites to increase in coming days

Talking to ETV Bharat, Dr Suneela Garg, advisor in the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), said that the session sites across the country will be increased in the coming days. "The Government aims to complete the first phase of vaccination of 30 crore people in coming six months and it is possible," said Dr Garg. In the beginning, we have opened a limited number of centres for vaccination which will definitely be scaled up in the coming days. On January 16, there were 3006 session sites (total beneficiary 2,07,229). On January 17, 6 states including Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Manipur and Tamil Nadu continued the vaccination process with 553 session sites which went upto 7,704 sessions as on Monday. As many as 17,072 beneficiaries were vaccinated on Sunday. States were advised by the Health Ministry to plan Covid vaccination sessions in 4 days in a week to minimise disruption of routine health services. However, only a few states have kept flexible vaccination days as per their convenience.

READ: India, China to lead vaccine distribution in APAC: Moody