As the covid vaccinations have begun in their full swing, the number of reactions to the vaccine have also surfaced. According to a report by the Central panel studying vaccinated individuals, up to 60 people experienced “serious adverse effects” after getting the covid shot. The board had reported 31 such cases in its June report.
The panel that monitors the side-effects of vaccinations in citizens, the National Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI) Committee, has submitted its research to the Union Health Ministry. The committee had completed its study on May 27th. The panel submits one report every month after collecting data and evaluating the reports.
Out of the 60 cases reported this month, 55 of them had a consistent causal association to vaccination. They were found to have anxiety and product-related causative factors as 36 of these were anxiety-related and the rest 18 product-related. One of them was found to be due to both reasons.
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The remaining 5 cases were found with an “inconsistent” causal association to inoculation, including the one death case reported. The fatality was grouped as a “coincidental event”. This refers to the death taking place after the vaccination but due to another reason.
As per the Vaccination Committee, AEFI, the person who died last month was fully vaccinated, meaning he/she had received both the doses of vaccine. This June report’s finding was tagged as a “vaccine product-related reaction” or anaphylaxis (serious life-threatening reaction).
However, the health ministry had said back then that vaccines present a much larger benefit to people compared to the risk it poses.
The same was echoed this time as well by the AEFI panel as they said monitoring of cases is still ongoing. “However, as a measure of utmost precaution, all emerging signals of harm are being constantly tracked and reviewed periodically,” its report read.
India began inoculating citizens, starting with healthcare workers, in January this year with 2 indigenous vaccines- SII’s Covishield and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin. Till now, nearly 40 crore people have been vaccinated as part of the mass drive. The nation witnessed a massive second wave of coronavirus during the vaccination drive as the majority hasn’t been inoculated yet. The second wave revealed the lack of preparation as the healthcare sector almost collapsed due to the amount of incoming patients and unavailability of enough oxygen cylinders, hospital beds, essential drugs and others, leading to the death of hundreds of citizens.
