New Delhi: As usual, India has a first to its credit. It conducted the highest vaccinations in the world in a day -- more than the US, the UK and France. But it also had to reckon with at least 447 cases of post-vaccination adverse events, three of whom needed hospital care. Two of them have been since discharged.
Most of the adverse effects reported were minor -- swelling at the injection site, slight nausea or brief allergic reactions to the jab.
Delhi Health Minister Satyender Jain said that there had been 51 cases of minor complications in the national capital. Of these, there was one severe case, where the patient was admitted to the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences.
Doctors treating COVID-19 patients said vaccines are proving safe and recommend that people don’t hesitate in getting one when it is offered. Fevers and aches are clinical reactions, it means your body’s defence stem is gearing up and you’re gaining immunity, pointed out one medical practitioner. But he agrees that it is normal to have misgivings about something that is going to be injected into your body.
Experts say as the use of vaccine broadens, some rare side effects will almost certainly surface; but most of them may have to do with other ailments a person is suffering from. Such random events can’t be allowed to have a potential ripple effect.
On Saturday three lakh people were to be vaccinated but fewer than two lakh were actually given the shot. The turnout was possibly impacted by the misgivings among the health staff, especially about one of the vaccines being administered, and because it was voluntary.
Over 17,000 people were vaccinated across 553 sites in six states on Day 2. It being a Sunday, fewer states had operated for the jabs. In the ensuing week, states have been asked to plan vaccination sessions four days a week.
Some states have already declared their dates; only Andhra Pradesh has sought permission to carry out vaccination six days a week.
Tamil Nadu was one of the states where the response was poor. ‘‘One has to understand that it is not like pulse polio vaccination where we have to achieve a target in a stipulated time. It is like Aadhar Card distribution where no one comes forward in the beginning and gradually people start coming in; then at one point such is the rush that they wait in queues,’’ News 18 cited Tamil Nadu Health Secretary as saying, according to its news portal.
