HYDERABAD: A day after a 42-year-old ambulance driver died 18 hours into receiving the Covishield vaccine, the Telangana Health Department on Thursday sent the viscera, fluids and some organs of the deceased to the National Institute of Virology, Pune, and Central Forensic Science Laboratories for analysis.
Dr GS Rao, Director of Public Health of Telangana, said that the preliminary postmortem report of the body has stated that the healthcare worker, Vittal Rao, died of a silent myocardial infarction or heart attack. This report had been prepared by the District Hospital, Nirmal. “The report will be sent to the higher labs for further analysis,” said Rao.
The driver, who had no comorbidities, had died early on Wednesday after complaining of chest pain. Officials, however, have ruled out the death-due-to-vaccination angle and sent samples to higher agencies. “The role of human error is ruled out because there was no clustering of any adverse symptoms as all other 80 in the PHC had no impact,” said Rao.
28k turn up to get vaccinated
Meanwhile, 57 per cent of targeted healthcare workers turned up to get vaccinated on the fourth day of the drive on Thursday. This translates to 27,682 healthcare workers of the targeted 48,447 beneficiaries. Senior health officials said that the number of beneficiaries that turned up is good, keeping in mind the sudden death of the driver.
With this, the total number of vaccinated healthcare workers has reached 97,307, giving an overall coverage of 68%. Among those who got vaccinated on Thursday, only six experienced minor Adverse Event Following Immunisation (AEFI)-related symptoms and their condition was now stable.Telangana recorded 226 Covid-19 cases, 224 recoveries and one death on Wednesday. The active cases in the State stand at just 3,920 while the toll at 1,584.
104 helpline to cure queries of beneficiaries
The 104 State helpline for the beneficiaries has received several queries since the rollout began on January 16. Director of Public Health Dr GS Rao said, ”We have about eight professionals at the call centre who have been instructed on how to help beneficiaries based on their issues. If a serious issue is reported, they are also guided to the nearest centre where AEFI can be managed”