Bihar: Woman in Patna inoculated with both, COVISHIELD & COVAXIN doses, within 5 minutes

Amid India's massive COVID-19 immunization drive, a bizarre incident from Bihar's capital has now come to light raising severe questions over the ongoing incolutaion. In Patna's rural block, a woman identified as Sunila Devi was administered with a dose of each COVISHIELD and COVAXIN on the same day within a gap of 5 minutes. The woman inoculated with both doses is said to be stable and under the observation of a medical team. 

"They asked for my phone number first and then they made me sit on a chair. Then a madam injected me on the same arm which had been jabbed just 5 minutes before," Sunila Devi said after being administered with both the doses. 

Narrating the incident, Sunila Devi said that she had visited the vaccination camp at a school in Beldarichak on June 16, where she had registered for the vaccine. She stood in the queue at the end of which she was inoculated with COVISHIELD, she claims. After the inoculation, the nursing staff asked the woman to wait for observation for five minutes. And while she was waiting in the observation room, another nurse came and administered a jab of COVAXIN. 

Meanwhile, Bihar health department has sought an explaination from the staff present at the vaccination camp, sources said. 

Previously, a similar incident was reported in May this year, when an Italian lady was administered with six doses of Pfizer's COVID vaccine all at once. The mistake occurred after a nurse mistakenly injected one whole vial of the vaccine instead of the dose, which is equivalent to six doses of the vaccine. There were no side-effects reported, although the Italian lady was given unprecedented amounts of vaccine, fluids and paracetamol, as per reports.

One 'Vaccine Product Related' Death In India

The Union Government on Tuesday clarified that deaths & hospitalisation after vaccination could not be immediately attributed to the inoculation process until it was investigated & inferred to be so by the Adverse Event Following Immunization (AEFI) committee. 

Refuting media reports from certain quarters which claimed India had witnessed 488 deaths related to post-COVID complications after vaccinations between 16 January & 7 June, the Centre categorically stated that the number of deaths reported following COVID vaccination in the country was only 0.0002% of 23.5 crore doses administered which was within the expected death rates in a population.

The statement issued by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare comes after the National AEFI Committee-approved casualty assessment details of 31 reported cases of serious Adverse Events Following Immunization confirmed that one person had died after being diagnosed with Anaphylaxis and whose case was classified as 'vaccine product related'.

The death, as per the National AEFI Committee-approved report, was a 68-year-old male who was vaccinated (COVISHIELD) on March 8 and died due to Anaphylaxis. The case was approved by the National AEFI Committee on March 31. Two other similar cases were reported, a 21-year old female and a 22-year old male who were also diagnosed with Anaphylaxis, but were hospitalised and recovered. Their cases have also been classified under the vaccine product-related category.