- Saturday, November 23, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
Shubham Ghosh
INDIA, a nation of 1.4 billion people, is currently grappling with the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic at the moment. The authorities are in the middle of fast-tracking the vaccination process so that more lives can be shielded against the deadly virus. But even during the drives, reports of untoward incidents have come to the fore at times.
In Thursday (17), Gulf News reported that a 63-year-old woman in the country’s northern state of Bihar was recently given two doses of the vaccine from two different companies same day. The woman, named Sunila Devi, was put under observation.
The woman, wife if Ravindra Mahato from Patna district, had gone to a vaccination centre at Punpun block town on Wednesday (16) to take the jab. The candidates for vaccination were required to carry their Aadhar cards (a national identity document) for on-the-spot vaccination with much hassle.
At the centre which is a government school, two counters were set up in a single room to inoculate people of two different age-groups – one for those above 18 and another for those above 45.
When Sunila Devi’s turn came, she was administered the first dose of Covaxin, which has been developed by India’s Bharat Biotech, and asked to wait for some time to see if she had any effects.
After some time, the woman joined another queue for vaccination believing it was mandatory to take vaccines at both the counters. Nobody noticed her and she ended up taking a dose of the Covishield vaccine (the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured by Serum Institute of India).
Two nurses given showcause notices
Soon after, the incident came to light and local villagers started protesting at the centre. Health officials rushed to Sunila Devi’s house to conduct a health checkup. While she was said to be fine but yet remained under observation, two nurses with slapped with showcause notices for gross negligence.
Dr Sanjeev Kumar, a senior health officer and Patna All India Institute of Medical Science nodal officer, said the women will be tested for antibodies after two weeks if she didn’t develop any reactions, the Gulf News report added.
Recipients of the vaccines need to take any one of them twice and after a stipulated gap. Last month, at least 20 people were given Covaxin doses more than a month after they received Covishield as the first dose, in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh’s Siddharthnagar district.
Bihar is one of the poorly performing states in India when it comes to vaccination. According to data shared by India’s health ministry, the state has so far jabbed only 15.11 percent of its eligible population with the first dose. Bihar is one of the most densely populated states of India. The country has seen 266 million people getting vaccinated so far.
However, the state’s vaccination drive also saw good news from its East Champaran district where the Bijbani South village council became the first council in the state to have vaccinated all villagers.
