Woman given two shots of vaccine within minutes in Bihar

A 67-year-old woman, who was given a shot each of Covaxin and Covishied in a short interval of time at a vaccination camp in Bihar recently, was doing fine, said the health department on Saturday

A 67-year-old woman, who was given a shot each of Covaxin and Covishied in a short interval of time at a vaccination camp in Bihar recently, was doing fine, said the health department on Saturday.

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Sunila Devi, wife of Ravindra Mahto, was administered shots of the two vaccines in a space of 5 minutes at the Utkramit Vidyalaya, a rural camp in Beldarichak village of Punpun block under Patna district on June 16.

The camp, allegedly hosted in a room, had two session sites in it, one for the 18-45 years age group and another for those above 45 years of age. Hosting two-session sites in a room is against the vaccination norms to avoid mixing, said officials.

“My grandmother first stood in the queue meant for her age group and was administered Covaxin. After taking the jab, the auxiliary nursing midwife (ANM) asked her to sit on a chair. After some time, another ANM, giving shots to the 18-45 years age group, under some confusion, administered her Covishield, in a space of 5 minutes of taking Covaxin. My grandmother did not know that the two shots of vaccine should not be taken the same day,” said Akash Kumar, the 18-year-old grandson of the woman.

He said his grandmother was running a high fever till yesterday but was feeling weak on Saturday. Akash also claimed that the two queues for vaccinating the 18-45 years age group and those above 45 years of age were held in one room.

“The doctors are enquiring only over the phone. We got medicines for the high fever my grandmother had till yesterday, but she’s feeling weak today,” he added.

“We have issued show-cause notices to our officials and expect their response on Monday. We will definitely take action against the guilty because we had specifically instructed officials not to have two different vaccines at one session site to avoid mixing of vaccines,” said Manoj Kumar, executive director, State Health Society, Bihar.

Dr Sanjay Kumar, medical officer-in-charge of the Punpun primary health centre (PHC), responsible for the camp, has been asked to explain under what circumstances the woman was given the two jabs, said Dr Vibha Kumari Singh, Patna’s civil surgeon.

“The certificate generated through the CoWIN portal shows that only Covaxin has been administered to the woman. She, however, claims that two separate vaccines were administered to her within a few minutes. We are inquiring into the incident. I have issued show-cause notices to the two ANMs deputed at the camp and sought a response from them,” said Dr Kumar.

The woman is doing fine right now. She is under the observation of a medical team, said the State Health Society, Bihar, in its tweet on Saturday evening. “Actions have been initiated against the responsible officials and the civil surgeon has been instructed to ensure that such things should not happen in future,” the tweet said.

“We have asked the officials to explain how this happened, especially when all jabs have to be authenticated on the CoWIN portal on the basis of one’s Aadhaar,” said Patna’s civil surgeon.

“In response to my show-cause notice to the medical officer of Punpun PHC, he has asked the two nurses deployed at the camp to explain the circumstances leading to the administration of the two vaccines to the woman,” she added.

“We are keeping a close watch on the woman, who is at her residence. She had developed a fever, but is doing fine now. She has not complained of any other difficulty so far. I personally spoke to her over phone yesterday,” Dr Singh added

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