The central government on Thursday, 4 February, termed as "absolutely baseless” the allegations that it rushed to certify that the COVID-19 vaccination was not the cause of deaths of 19 health workers, adding that more clarity on these fatalities will be provided soon, PTI reported.
“No evidence suggests such a link so far and all details of these fatalities will be made public after deliberations by experts,” the government said.
The deaths were reported after 16 January, after the launch of the nationwide inoculation drive – which prioritised over three crore healthcare and frontline workers.
Health Ministry secretary Rajesh Bhushan said in a press conference that there is a very structured and robust system for monitoring any adverse events following immunisation (AEFI), PTI reported.
"It is settled that these vaccines are safe. After giving 45 lakh doses, there are minimal side effects sometimes, like one person out of 1,150 persons got a side effect and no death has been attributed yet, proves that these vaccines are superbly safe and safest that can ever be devised," NITI Aayog Member VK Paul said.
Bhushan added, "Post-mortem of all these deaths have been carried out by a board of three doctors. The state AEFI committees have deliberated on all these matters. There is no evidence of deaths caused due to the vaccination and once the national AEFI committee meets and deliberates on this, the data will be shared on public domain.”
"There is a process which needs to be completed. So, those who say that government has rushed to certify that there is no causality is absolutely baseless narrative," Bhushan further said, PTI quoted.
(With inputs from PTI)
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