Telangana: Vaccinated HCW Dies, Officials Say Death Unrelated

A healthcare worker in Telangana passed away on Wednesday, 20 January a day after he was given the COVID-19 vaccine. While the postpartum is yet to be conducted, the state’s Director of Public Health and Welfare has said that the death seems to be unrelated to the vaccine.

“Preliminary findings suggest that the death seems to be unrelated to vaccination. As per the guidelines postpartum will be conducted by a team of doctors. The district Adverse Events Following Immunisation (AEFI) committee is examining the matter and will submit its report to the state AEFI committee. The state AEFI will in turn furnish its report to the central AEFI for taking a view.”

Telangana Director of Public Health and Welfare

The 42-year-old worker was administered the vaccine on 19 January. He developed chest pain at 2.30 AM the next morning, and was brought dead to the hospital after about three hours.

The world’s largest vaccination drive was kicked off on 16 January in India. This is the third reported death in the country following vaccination, but the health ministry has clarified that the previous two incidents were also unrelated to the vaccine.

Amidst the many apprehensions that people have about the corona vaccination, AIIMS director Randeep Guleria has assured people that no person will die from the vaccine itself.

The vaccine that is approved for use is safe and effective. In many studies and scientific reviews, no correlation has been found between vaccination and death except in rare cases, says Dr Guleria.

However, no vaccine is completely risk-free and serious adverse events can sometimes come up after vaccination.

Some adverse events, including serious side effects and death, can be seen in an extensive vaccination campaign. But in the case of death, proving that the death is caused by the vaccine can be very tricky, because one has to consider all the possible causes.

ICMR's COVID-19 National Task Force's head of operations research, Dr NK Arora, says in this report by The Hindu, “It is important for people to know that the vulnerable population - elderly people, people with diabetes, chronic lung disease, high blood pressure, kidney problems, diseases like cancer can suffer from heart attack or any other sudden health problems. We cannot and should not associate it with the vaccine.”