Health worker dies day after receiving COVID-19 vaccine in UP's Moradabad; no link with inoculation, say officials

A 46-year-old health worker died a day after receiving the vaccination in Uttar Pradesh's Moradabad.

Mahipal Singh, who was working as a ward boy in the surgical ward of the state-run Deendayal Upadhyaya Hospital, died on Sunday night.

While Singh's family is blaming the death on the vaccination, district authorities cited an autopsy report to say that he suffered from cardiac disease.

Moradabad chief medical officer Milind Chandra Garg said that the deceased's heart "was found enlarged and with blood clots in the postmortem report".

"It appears that Mahipal was suffering from cardiac disease," he added.

The report of the postmortem, conducted by three doctors, said the death was caused by "cardio-pulmonary disease" and that there is "no relation with corona vaccine".

The chief medical officer dismissed suggestions that the vaccine shot could have caused a side effect, leading to Singh's death, PTI reported.

"He was vaccinated on Saturday around noon. On Sunday he felt breathless and complained of chest congestion. We are inquiring into the reasons of the death. He did night duty on Saturday too and there were no problems," Garg was quoted as saying by NDTV.

While he admitted that some employees were suffering from fever after taking the shots, he maintained that those were "general problems", unlike Singh's symptoms.

On the other hand, Singh's son Vishal said that his father had called him to hospital because he was having difficulty breathing.

"My father left the vaccination centre around 1.30 pm, and then I brought him home. He was feeling breathless and he was coughing.

He had a bit of pneumonia, the usual cough and cold, but he started feeling worse after returning home," Vishal was quoted as saying by NDTV.

"After the vaccination, he developed a fever and felt a heaviness in breathing. On Sunday, he was admitted in the government hospital where he passed away at night," he added.

Singh's family members also stated that he had never had any cardiac problem and he was quite healthy except for the fever and cough, PTI reported. "My father did not contract even when he performed his duty during the pandemic," his son said.

Meanwhile, Moradabad district magistrate Rakesh Singh said that a high-level inquiry was being ordered. The DM said that the vaccination is fully safe and no side effects were reported.

"The case of Mahipal is exceptional and a high-level medical inquiry will be ordered," he said.

On Sunday, the Union health ministry said that 447 people who had received the vaccine had reported Adverse Event Following Immunisation (AEFI).

With inputs from PTI