Authorities in Karnataka have confirmed that a man who was administered the COVID-19 vaccine died but maintain that the death was not connected with the vaccination. The Ballari district administration has said that the man had existing comorbidities (diabetes and heart condition).
Confirming the same, Ballari Deputy Commissioner Pavan Kumar Malapati told TNM that the AEFI (Adverse event following immunization) Committee of the district concluded that the death is not related to the vaccination. The committee will send a detailed report to the state Health Department.
The victim has been identified as Nagaraj. He was working in Sandur General Hospital.
District Health Officer, Dr Janardhan, who is part of the committee, told TNM, "The 43-year-old man is a Group D worker. He was working as an attendant in Sandur General Hospital. He had taken the Covishield vaccination on January 16. He died this afternoon and postmortem is underway at Vijaynagar Institute of Medical Sciences. The person was a resident of Kamalapura in Hospet taluk. He had severe comorbidities including hypertension and diabetes. He had cardiovascular problems as well."
“The man went to work after taking the vaccine. On Monday morning he complained of chest pain and the doctors at Sandur General Hospital began treating him. The cause of death is myocardial infarction,” he added.
Nagaraj is the second person across the country who has died after taking the vaccine.
In a statement, the Karnataka Health Department said that Nagaraju (43) of Ballari district, who was a permanent employee of the Health Department, passed away due to massive heart attack on Monday. According to the officials, Nagaraju was normal till Monday morning and did not experience any uneventful events in 24 hours after vaccination (around 1 pm on January 16). However, on Monday morning. when he joined duty, he complained of chest pain around 9.30 am and collapsed.
“He was treated immediately and was reffered to Jindal Sanjeeveni hospital for further treatment. He was admitted to the Jindal Sanjeeveni Hospital at 11.15 am. The highest level of treatment was provided, but he couldn't be saved,” read the statement, adding that none of the other healthcare workers, who took the vaccine from the same vial, had any adverse events.
The district-level AEFI (adverse effect following immunisation) Committee met and had detailed discussions. “The conclusion is that the death was due to cardiorespiratory arrest secondary to acute anteroseptal myocardial infarction,” the health department officials said.
It was earlier reported how vaccination drives in Karnataka, like in the rest of the country, had started on January 16. However, in the first three days only 49% of the intended target beneficiaries were vaccinated.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated the vaccination drive virtually in Bengaluru Medical College on Saturday. Some private hospitals like St. John's Medical college have also been included in this initiative. Covishield will be distributed in 237 centres and Covaxin in six centres in Ballari, Shivamogga, Hassan, Chikmagalur, Chamarajanagar and Davangere.
(With inputs from Theja Ram)