73-yr-old woman dies 2 hrs after taking Covid-19 vaccine in Ramanagar

Representative image. Credit: iStock Photo

A 73-year woman who was administered a Covid-19 vaccine on Tuesday afternoon died two hours after receiving the jab.

Sajjamma, a resident of Paduvanagere in Ramanagar district, was inoculated with Covishield at about 11:15 am and was in observation till 12:30 pm, said Ramanagar district health officer Dr Niranjan.

“She died of indeterminate causes at around 1.30 pm,” he added.

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However, the victim’s family alleges that Sajjamma’s death was due to an adverse reaction to the vaccine and claimed that she had perished within 20 minutes of leaving the observation room.

Her nephew Ganesh Arya told DH that Sajjamma was with a group of women returning home when she felt dizzy and sat down.

“The accompanying women tried to give her water, but she was unable to drink. Within minutes she was dead. The time of death was between 1.10 pm and 1.20 pm. All of this happened within 200 metres of the government hospital,” Arya said.

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Ramanagar district officials said they have now ordered a post-mortem of the patient to determine the cause of the death.

“We are carrying out hundreds of vaccinations per day for the last several weeks and there has been no instance of adverse event following immunisation (AEFI) here,” Dr Niranjan said.

District officials said Sajjamma’s advanced age could have caused her death.

“We cannot necessarily say it was because of the vaccine,” officials said.

However, Arya claimed that his aunt had no comorbidities or health problems that they knew of.

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“She was robust. In fact, she walked for nearly one kilometre from her house to the Paduvanagere government hospital in Maralavadi,” he said.

He said the hospital did not have a single doctor on-hand to ensure that his aunt was capable of taking the vaccine.

A source said that the body had been moved to the RR Nagar hospital for post mortem. According to the government, there have been two severe AEFIs registered so far in the state and 21 serious AEFIs, out of over 14 lakh people vaccinated so far.

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