Confusion over man's death, doctor questions whether he actually got Covid-19 vaccine

Confusion prevails over the death of a labourer in his 30s, two days after vaccination, with an official questioning whether he actually got a shot for Covid-19 as he was not eligible for it under current norms.

The post-mortem report said the man died of brain haemorrhage and also had swelling in the liver and spleen.

But, there are also doubts over how he could be vaccinated as he was only in his 30s.

According to the existing government policy, apart from healthcare and frontline workers, people aged above 60 and those between 45 and 59 years with comorbid conditions are eligible to get vaccinated against the coronavirus.

Lalmani, the labourer, died in this district two days allegedly after getting vaccinated against the coronavirus but doctors have not linked the death to the inoculation.

Chief Medical Officer (CMO) P D Gupta on Friday said a probe will be conducted soon.

"The age of the labourer is said to be around 35 to 38 years which does not come into any of the categories being inoculated against the coronavirus. It will be probed if it was actually the Covid-19 vaccine that was given to him or there is some confusion in this regard," CMO Gupta said.

Meera, the wife of Lalmani, had said he was vaccinated at the government-run Lalganj primary health centre on Monday.

She had claimed that he complained of body ache and lethargy after getting the shot and was rushed to hospital on Wednesday morning when his condition turned serious.

He was given medicines there but he vomited and died, she said.

"I have come to know that Lalmani, a labourer from Bahuti Basita village was given the injection on March 15. He had come complaining about some problems in the OPD of the hospital later on Wednesday where he was given some medicines. He came out and sat there for a while and died," the CMO said.

Meera told newspersons that the age of her husband was 38 and claimed that she and some other villagers had also received the shots in the government hospital after an ASHA worker asked them to do so by taking their Aadhar cards.

The body was sent for a post-mortem examination on Wednesday following Meera's allegations and the report received the same night.

The opinion of the doctors who conducted the post-mortem was that excessive bleeding in the brain led to the death, the CMO had said in the statement issued on the post-mortem report.