The National Adverse Event Following Immunisation (AEFI) Committee has started reviewing and investigating deaths after Covid-19 vaccination, and has found no link between the vaccine and the deaths so far, according to sources in the government.
On Friday the experts’ committee of cardiologists, physicians, and neurologists reviewed five deaths and found that the deaths were “coincidental”.
According to one of the sources, “All the cases which were assessed had comorbidities. We have not found any association of these deaths with the vaccination.”
“Information regarding the cause of death is likely to be put in public domain soon,” said the sources.
So far, 19 deaths have occurred post-Covid-19 vaccination in the country. Nearly two-dozen scientists and public health experts had earlier written to Union health minister Harsh Vardhan and Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) V G Somani, urging them to investigate the deaths.
“The committee has decided to review and deliberate the causality of these deaths on a rolling basis,” a government official said.
“It’s a scientific process and a lot of things have to be looked at before the experts come to a conclusion. Five cases were reviewed on Friday and none of them were found to be associated with the vaccination.”
The experts will meet every week and review the cause of deaths, sources said.
However, earlier today the Govt informed that so far 22 deaths have been reported post-vaccination, 77-yr-old died in a fresh case:
Additional Secretary of Union Health Ministry, Manohar Agnani said that the total hospitalization till the date of people who are vaccinated against COVID are 27 and no hospitalization has been recorded in the last 24 hours.
“Deaths so far are 22. New death in the past 24 hrs is 1, a 77-yr-old male – a resident of Agra. He was hospitalized 7 days after vaccination with shock with pre-existing diabetes,” he said. A total of 52,90,474 beneficiaries have been vaccinated for COVID-19 in the country, till 6 pm on February 05.
