Mother in Bihar seeks justice after vaccine goof-up for her two kids

The two children were inadvertently administered Covishield, instead of Covaxin, as the first dose of vaccine against coronavirus after the government approved only the indigenous Covaxin for children in the 15-18 years age group and opened vaccination slots on January 3.

Poonam Kumari, a postal assistant at the Biharsharif post office in Bihar’s Nalanda district, is in a fix, spending her time trying to sort out how to fix the Covid-19 vaccine certificates of her sons, Piyush Ranjan, 17, and Aryan Kiran, 16.

A healthcare worker administers a dose of Covid-19 vaccine in Patna. (HT Photo)

The children were inadvertently administered Covishield, instead of Covaxin, as the first dose of vaccine against coronavirus after the government approved only the indigenous Covaxin for children in the 15-18 years age group and opened vaccination slots on January 3. Their vaccination certificates, however, mention Covaxin because the CoWIN portal, through which Covid-19 vaccinations are administered, does not allow the option to choose any other vaccine for children.

Kumari and her children have since been running from pillar to post to correct the mistake in the vaccination certificate, but to no avail.

“The officials concerned at the Nalanda civil surgeon’s office were brash when my children last met them in February to correct the mistake in their vaccination certificates. They shooed away my children, saying they had nothing to worry as they did not report any adverse event following immunisation (AEFI),” said Kumari.

The blunder has led to more complications. The children cannot be fully vaccinated with two doses of the same vaccine, at least officially now.

Technically, the children will not be allowed Covishield’s second shot because the government has not approved its use in children as of now. Taking Covaxin in the second dose will mean mixopathy, which is not allowed in India as yet.

While both shots of Covaxin can be taken at an interval of 28 days, in case of Covishield it is 84 days.

“Under the given circumstances, I’ve decided not to vaccinate my children with the second dose unless the government allows them Covishield,” said Kumari.

Nalanda civil surgeon Dr Sunil Kumar did not have a convincing reply as he accepted the complexity in fully inoculating the two children now.

“Administration of Covishield as the first dose of vaccine to the children was a mistake. We cannot undo it now,” said Dr Kumar.

The civil surgeon said he submitted his inquiry report last week to the district magistrate, after seeking explanation from doctors, auxiliary nursing midwives and the data entry operator at the IMA hall in Biharsharif, where the children had taken the jabs.

“We have recommended the firm, which provides us outsourced manpower, to replace the data entry operator, as he faulted in his primary responsibility to check that correct vaccine was administered to the children,” said Dr Kumar.

“We have also repatriated Dr Sujit Kumar Akela, the then deputy superintendent of the Nalanda Sadar hospital, to the Isua additional primary health centre under Sarmera block of the district. He was responsible for the smooth functioning of the vaccination centre at IMA hall,” he said.

“The regular ANM at the IMA hall has been let off as she was on leave that day after being infected by Covid-19. The replacement ANM did not reach the vaccination session site on time as a result of which an apprentice ANM, deputed to assist the regular ANM, administered the jab,” said Dr Kumar.

Bihar has achieved 60% first-dose vaccination coverage in case of children, having a target population of 83.46 lakh.

There have been other instances of goof-up in Covid-19 vaccination in Bihar in the past. The CoWIN portal showed Munger’s Anil Kumar Sinha, 73, who died on May 4 last year, to have taken the second shot of the vaccine on December 4, 2021, after the first shot on April 8 last year. Hindustan Times has screen shot of the CoWIN portal, copies of Sinha’s death certificate, and his Covid-19 vaccination certificate in which the last four digits of his Aadhaar number are the same, while the initial digits are masked.

Similarly, Patna’s Rashmi Kumar, 65, a private school teacher, has two vaccination certificates with different dates of inoculation of the second jab.

While one certificate mentions her second dose of Covaxin to have been administered on October 8, 2021, the final certificate, after the precaution dose on January 31, mentions the second shot to have been administered on April 14, 2021. She took the first shot on March 8, 2021.

If the certificate mentioning the date of the second jab on October 8 were true, it raises questions how the CoWIN portal allowed Kumar to take the precaution dose within three months, when the rule prescribes a minimum waiting period of nine months (39 weeks) from the second dose of the vaccine.

HT has copies of the two vaccination certificates. Interestingly, the vaccine’s batch number (37G20006A) is the same for the first and the second dose, administered at different venues at an interval of 36 days, in the final certificate. However, the other certificate mentions a different batch number (37F21120A) of the second dose on October 8.

“There are bound to be teething problem in any new system. The Central government is in the process of fine tuning it,” said a senior health officer requesting anonymity.

Madhepura’s Brahamdev Mandal, 84, a retired postal employee, had claimed to have taken Covid jabs 12 times, against the norm of two before January 10. A subsequent inquiry by the state health department revealed that he took eight shots of the vaccine.