Government Panel Confirms First Death Due to COVID Vaccination

The government panel on Tuesday confirmed the death of one person due to anaphylaxis after taking the COVID-19 vaccine. The death assessment of 31 reported Serious Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI) cases following COVID-19 vaccination.

The AEFI committee's report shows that a person aged 68-year-old after receiving his shot on March 8, 2021, died due to anaphylaxis, reported Times Now.

"Yes, it's the first death that we have seen where the reason of death after the investigation was found to anaphylaxis after vaccination," Dr NK Arora, chairperson, national AEFI committee told Mirror Now.

The AEFI committee's report states that 3 cases were found to be vaccine product related.

"Vaccine product-related reactions are expected reactions that can be attributed to vaccination based on current scientific evidence. Examples of such reactions are allergic reactions and anaphylaxis, etc," government panel report said.

In the other two anaphylaxis cases, two cases were given vaccines on January 19 and 16 and both of them recovered after getting admitted to a hospital.

Of the 31 deaths assessed by the AEFI committee, 18 were classified as having an inconsistent causal association to vaccination (coincidental – not linked to vaccination), seven were classified as indeterminate and two cases were found to be unclassifiable, the government panel report said.

"Unclassifiable events are events which have been investigated but there is not enough evidence for assigning a diagnosis due to missing crucial information…..When this relevant information becomes available, the case may be reconsidered for causality assessment," the AEFI committee report said.

The cases of Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI) after COVID vaccination were just 0.01 percent of the total doses administered and fatalities were even fewer.

The AEFI data from the Union Health Ministry states that between January 16 and June 7, 26,200 AEFI cases were reported.

ALSO READ: India Witnessed 85% Increase In 'Heavy Rainfall' Since 2012: MES