Ranchi: A health worker at a private hospital in Ranchi, died of a suspected cardiac arrest on Tuesday night, a day after he was inoculated with the Covishield vaccine. While the family of Mannu Pahan (45), a housekeeping staff at Medanta Hospital, said he died because of some adverse effects of the vaccine, health officials said there were no complications caused to him by the vaccine.
Pahan, a resident of Ranchi’s Ormanjhi block, collapsed at his home while having dinner on Tuesday night and was taken to Medanta around 10:30pm, where he was declared brought, his family members said. Pahan’s body was sent to Rims for autopsy and a Covid-19 test conducted on the corpse returned a negative result, a Rims official said.
A medical team from Ranchi sadar sospital and a WHO consultant reached the hospital to examine the situation. Ranchi civil surgeon Dr V B Prasad said: “The vaccine is completely safe and the death has nothing to do from his inoculation. He (Pahan) was administered the vaccine around 11:50am on Monday and did not show any symptoms of adverse effects. He was healthy throughout the day and has also reported to work on Tuesday. We have sent a team of doctors to evaluate the situation and, as per preliminary findings, he suffered a heart attack.”
However, Pahan’s family said he did not have any underlying ailments. His daughter-in-law Sabita Pahan said, “He did not suffer from any kind of heart ailment and was not on any medication. I believe he developed complications due to the vaccine.”
Health department officials dismissed the family’s claims and said that they will preserve the viscera of the deceased and will send it for tests so that no one has any doubt about the vaccine. “Across the country, more than a dozen people have died after getting vaccinated, but nothing has been proved against the efficacy of the shots. We will do all that it takes to ascertain the reason for Pahan’s death,” Prasad said.