COVID-19 Vaccination in India: 2,24,301 beneficiaries inoculated, 447 adverse events detected till now

COVID-19 Vaccination in India: 2,24,301 beneficiaries inoculated, 447 adverse events detected till now

Of the 447 'adverse events', only three cases were serious in nature and required hospitalisation

FPJ Web DeskUpdated: Sunday, January 17, 2021, 10:06 PM IST
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A medical worker inoculates a doctor with a Covid-19 coronavirus vaccine at the Institute of Kidney Diseases and Research Centre (IKDRC) in Ahmedabad on January 16, 2021. | AFP

A total of 447 Adverse Events Following Immunisation (AEFI) have been reported in the last two days of the massive inoculation drive against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) that is now underway in India.

Of them, three cases were serious in nature and required hospitalisation, the Union Health Ministry said during a press conference on Sunday.

The three cases occurred at different hospitals cum vaccination centres, the ministry added.

"One has been discharged from Northern Railway Hospital Delhi within 24 hours. One has been discharged from AIIMS Delhi. One is under observation in AIIMS Rishikesh and is fine," the Health and Family Welfare Ministry said.

News agency had IANS earlier reported that a 22-year-old security guard at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, was admitted in the intensive care unit (ICU) after he developed an allergic reaction here following inoculation a day ago.

The guard had suffered headache, rash, respiratory distress, and tachycardia.

However, the ministry missed the serious adverse event the Delhi government recorded in its list on Saturday where a healthcare worker of NDMC Charak Pallika Hospital had to be hospitalised post inoculation in the hospital. The healthcare worker was, however, discharged after few hours of observation.

The ministry also stressed that majority of the the adverse event are minor in nature and may or may not be related to the vaccination process.

"An adverse event following immunisation is any unexpected medical occurrence which follows immunisation. It may or may not be related to vaccine or vaccination process. Majority of the AEFIs are minor in nature: pain, mild swelling at injection site, mild fever, body ache, nausea, giddiness and mild allergic reactions like rashes, etc," it said.

Meanwhile, as many as 2,24,311 beneficiaries have received doses of Covid vaccines in 553 sessions of vaccination till Sunday held across the country. The ministry added that 2,07,229 of them received the jabs on day one of the drive.

"Today being Sunday, only six states conducted vaccination drive and in 553 sessions a total of 17,072 beneficiaries were vaccinated," the ministry's Additional Secretary Manohar Agnani said.

The number of people vaccinated in the country on day one of the drive is the highest in the world. "It is higher than (the numbers in) the US, UK and France on day one," he said.

"A total of 447 AEFI have been reported on January 16 and 17, out of which only three required hospitalisation. Most of the AEFI reported so far are minor like fever, headache, nausea," he said.

The six states where the vaccination drive was carried out on Sunday are Andhra Pradesh (308 sessions), Arunachal Pradesh (14 sessions), Karnataka (64 sessions), Kerala (one session), Manipur (one session) and Tamil Nadu (165 sessions), he said.

Vaccination drive schedule

The vaccination drive will be carried out six days a week in Andhra Pradesh and five days a week in Mizoram.

The drive will be carried out four days a week in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chandigarh, Chhattisgarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Ladakh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Puducherry, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttarakhand and West Bengal.

It will be carried out three days a week in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Nagaland and Odisha, and two days a week in Goa, Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh.

World's largest inoculation drive

Prime Minister Narendra Modi rolled out the world's largest inoculation drive against COVID-19 on Saturday and said the two vaccines being deployed will ensure a "decisive victory" for India against the pandemic.

India has approved two vaccines -- Covaxin developed by Bharat Biotech and Covishield from the Oxford/AstraZeneca stable being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India -- for emergency use in the country.

According to the government, the shots will be offered first to an estimated one crore healthcare workers and around two crore frontline workers, and then to persons above 50 years of age, followed by persons younger than 50 years of age with associated comorbidities.

(With inputs from agencies)

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