As of Monday, January 18, 580 Adverse Events Following Immunisation (AEFI) and seven hospitalisations were reported in the country since the launch of the coronavirus vaccine drive. This translates to just 0.15% of the total 381,305 inoculated.
At the same time, there is news of the death of a ward boy at the District Hospital in Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, who was vaccinated on 16 January and his health deteriorated on the evening of 17 January.
The Chief Medical Officer of the district has said that the death is not related to the vaccine. The post-mortem attributed the cause of death to cardiogenic shock / septicemic shock due to cardio-pulmonary disease.
So what do we know about adverse events in case of vaccines? And are these numbers within the range of expected reactions?
Adverse Event Followed Immunisation (AEFI) is defined as "any adverse medical event that may be seen after vaccination and not necessarily because of direct vaccine use. Any adverse signs, symptoms or illness may occur."
Adverse reaction to a vaccine is broadly divided based on the cause (related to product and quality), severity, and frequency.
Categories on the basis of severity and frequency are:
Common minor reaction
Serious and Severe Vaccine Reaction
According to the World Health Organisation, an event is termed serious when:
In case of death
Risk to life
Need to be hospitalised
Any disability
Birth defect
An intervention to prevent permanent damage
Dr Chhavi Gupta, the media spokesperson of Delhi's Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital, states, "Pain, fever, body ache at the injection site - these are the effects that can be seen immediately and some effects can be seen later. "
Virologist Dr Shahid Jameel explains in this video that every vaccine can have some side effects. Some of these can be extremely minor, such as redness or swelling at the injection site or low-grade fever for half a day.
Discussing the side effects and allergies after a vaccine, AIIMS director Dr Randeep Guleria told IANS that we do not need to be afraid of minor side effects, if you take any medicine, some allergic reaction may occur. And this reaction can also be from common medicines like Crocin and Paracetamol.
Dr Chhavi Gupta describes these adverse events as normal and well within the range.
29 people are reported dead after being given the Pfizer's Coronavirus vaccine in Norway, where all reported deaths have been in “elderly people with severe disease". Some incidents have been reported in UK and USA as well.
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.
ICMR's COVID-19 National Task Force's head of operations research, Dr NK Arora, says in this report by The Hindu,
Dr Chhavi Gupta says that at her hospital, everyone who comes for vaccination has their blood pressure and pulse rate checked. Those with high BP are not being vaccinated.
According to Dr Shahid Jameel, people with heart-related disease should consult a physician before taking the vaccine.
There are no publicly available guidelines that lay out what tests should be carried out before administering the COVID vaccine. But in Tamil Nadu, for example, BP, pulse rate and oxygen levels are checked before the vaccine is administered.
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