BHOPAL: A chilling case of negligence in Covid-19 vaccination of school children happened in Sagar district of Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday.
In flagrant violation of the established ‘one needle-one syringe-only one-time’ protocol, advisories and pledges by the central government, national and international agencies, at least 30 school children were administered Covid-19 vaccine doses with just a single syringe at a reputed school in Sagar city, a kilometre from the state capital Bhopal.
The shocker happened at the Jain Public Higher Secondary School by male vaccinator Jitendra Rai.
Immediately, Dinesh Namdev, one of the parents accompanying their children for vaccination, spotted the anomaly and blew the whistle. “My daughter is a Class 9 student and was among those vaccinated on Wednesday. I enquired from the man vaccinating the kids, as to how many syringes were being used by him to vaccinate the children. His reply was shocking, as he informed that, at least 40 children had been vaccinated with just one syringe. I immediately reported the matter to the school administration,” he said.
“Who will be held responsible, if our kids develop any health complications out of this blatant single syringe usage? Will it be the school or the health department, who will take the responsibility if anything adverse happens with our kids,” he questioned.
With the news of the shocking negligence spreading like wildfire, the officiating Sagar district collector Kshitij Singhal rushed the district’s chief medical and health officer [CMHO] Dr DK Goswami to the concerned school.
Before the CMHO could reach the spot, the scribes quizzed Jitendra on camera, who admitted vaccinating at least 30 children with one syringe. “I vaccinated 30 children with one syringe, as just one syringe was given to me and I was asked by the department staff to vaccinate all kids with just one syringe. I knew that one syringe shouldn’t be used, but since I was told to do so, I did,” he said. He also could not recollect who from the health department had sent him and dropped him at the school for the Covid vaccination drive.
During the primary on-the-spot inspection and probe by the CMHO, Jitendra was found missing from the school premises and his phone was also switched off. “While an FIR has been registered by the health department against Jitendra at the Gopalganj police station, a departmental probe against the district vaccination officer Dr Rakesh Roshan has been recommended to the Sagar divisional commissioner,” an official statement from the Sagar district administration stated.
Meanwhile, the opposition Congress’s state spokesperson Abbas Hafeez demanded the state health minister Dr Prabhuram Chowdhary’s resignation over the flagrant negligence during the vaccination of children at the school. “What has happened at the school in Sagar, exposes that the state’s health apparatus is flouting all safety norms and protocols in the name of achieving targets under the Covid vaccination mega campaign to score points nationally. Just to stay ahead in national Covid vaccination statistics, the state health apparatus is treating our kids as guinea-pigs. This blatant anomaly has been spotted by one parent at the school today, but this has triggered an apprehension about similar negligence having happened elsewhere with our generation next in the state in the past,” Hafeez alleged.
It is to be recalled that a month before the Covid-19 vaccination actually started in India, in January 2021, the union ministry for health and family welfare had reportedly pledged strict usage of the "One needle, one syringe, only one-time" protocol in COVID vaccination across the country.