Govt’s AEFI panel confirms 1st death in India as side effect of Covid-19 vaccine

June 15: After assessing 31 serious AEFIs or Adverse Events Following Immunisation, the government panel has confirmed that one person died due to anaphylaxis (an acute allergic reaction) after taking the COVID-19 vaccine. The AEFI committee’s report stated that a 68-year-old died on March 8, 2021, due to anaphylaxis after being vaccinated.

“It is the first death that we have seen in which the reason of death after an investigation was found to be anaphylaxis after vaccination,” said Dr NK Arora, chairperson of AEFI. Two more vaccine beneficiaries who were given the doses on January 16 and 19 suffered anaphylaxis but both recovered after brief hospitalisation.

Eighteen of the 31 deaths investigated by the committee were classified as having an inconsistent causal association with vaccination, coincidental but not linked to vaccination. Seven deaths were classified as indeterminate, while two cases were found as unclassifiable. The cases of Adverse Events Following Immunisation after COVID19 vaccination were just 0.01 per cent of the total doses administered and fatalities were even fewer.

As of now, 25,90,44,072 doses of vaccines were administered in the country till now.