Gurgaon: The
death of a 56-year-old nurse, six days after she was inoculated, is not directly related to the
vaccine, a 15-member panel formed to study adverse effects following immunisation (AEFI) reached a preliminary conclusion after a meeting on Saturday. The committee, however, clarified that the exact reason could only be ascertained after the
viscera reports arrived and the woman’s medical history was examined properly.
An autopsy has mentioned cardiac arrest as the cause of Lajwanti’s sudden death on Friday morning. The committee will hold another meeting on Monday to discuss the case — the first such in the city since the Covid
vaccination drive began last Saturday.
“We noted down the case as an AEFI because guidelines specify that any untoward incident within 28 days of immunization are supposed to be reported to the AEFI committee. So far, there seems to be no direct relation between the nurse’s death and the vaccine she took,” said Dr Virender Yadav, the chief medical officer. The committee said that Lajwanti, a health visitor for the past 20 years, had attended work till Thursday and not shown any signs of distress after receiving the vaccine. On Friday morning, her husband found her unresponsive and took her to Medanta hospital, where she was declared dead on arrival.
“The medical officer said she was under some medication that could lead to QT prolongation and increase risk of a sudden cardiac arrest. It seems to be a death due to cardiac arrest. It is not related to the vaccine,” said MP Jain, president of Indian Medical Association, Gurgaon. He is also a member of the AEFI committee.
On Saturday, 24 people tested positive for Covid, taking the caseload to 57,975. The health department said 33 patients recovered on the day, bringing the total number of recoveries to 57,209. So far, 352 people have died of Covid, of whom 271 had comorbidities.