Covid: At least 20 UP villagers get mixed doses of vaccines, government official admits to oversight
The residents received Covishield as their first dose and Covaxin as the second dose.
As many as 20 villagers in Uttar Pradesh’s Siddharthnagar district were administered one dose of Covishield and a second dose of Covaxin during vaccinations against Covid-19, reported News18 on Wednesday.
The incident was reported from Badhni Primary Health Centre in the district, where the residents of Audahi Kalan were administered Covishield as the first dose but received Covaxin on May 14, when they were due to get their second shots. The beneficiaries have not suffered any adverse reactions after receiving the mixed doses so far, according to NDTV.
“This is definitely an oversight,” Sandeep Chaudhary, the chief medical officer of Siddharthnagar district told the channel. “There are no instructions from the government to administer a cocktail of vaccines. We had ordered an enquiry and have got the report. I have asked for an explanation from those who are guilty. We will take whatever action is possible.”
The chief medical officer said that his teams had contacted everyone and met those who were erroneously administered the wrong second shot. “They are all healthy and not facing any problems,” Chaudhary said.
However, a few of those administered the mixed vaccine shots said that no authority had come to check on them. “When I went for the second dose, nobody was bothered to see which vaccine I had got as my first dose, the staff was busy with their own things,” Ramsurat, a resident of Audahi Kalan village, told News18. “I was given Covaxin instead of Covishield. I am fit at the moment but there is a fear that there is something wrong inside my body. No one till now has come to me to enquire about the issue.”
Ramsurat was administered Covishield on April 1 as his first dose and Covaxin on May 14 as the second shot.
India, which is tackling a surge in Covid-19 infections due to the second wave of the pandemic, has been inoculating its population with Serum Institute’s Covishield and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin. On April 13, the Drugs Controller General of India approved the emergency use of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine, the third vaccine used in India against Covid-19.
Covishield is the name of the coronavirus vaccine developed by the Oxford University and British-Swedish firm AstraZeneca. It is manufactured in India by the Serum Institute. On the other hand, Covaxin is being developed in India with the help of the Indian Council of Medical Research.
Amid an acute shortage of both the vaccines, several states have resorted to vaccinating its residents only when the supplies are made. Multiple states have paused vaccinations due to a shortage in stock or no clarity on delivery from drug manufacturers.
India on Wednesday reported 2.08 lakh new cases in the last 24 hours, taking the overall tally past 2.71 crore since the pandemic first broke out in January 2020. The toll rose by 4,157 to 3,11,388, while the active caseload declined by over 91,000 to 24,95,591.