Jharkhand health worker dies after receiving COVID vaccine

Ranchi, February 3

A health worker has died 36 hours after being administered COVID vaccine in Jharkhand, officials said on Wednesday.

The health worker, identified as Mannu Pahan, was administered the Covishield vaccine at his workplace Medanta Hospital here on February 1 and he died on Tuesday night, the private medical establishment’s CEO Dr Pankaj Sahni said.

Though 52-year-old Pahan did not have comorbidities, the cause of his death is being investigated, he said.

After being administered the vaccine, Pahan returned to his village in Ormanjhi near Ranchi and even came to work on February 2.

He fell ill in his village on Tuesday night and died while being taken to the hospital, Dr Ajit Prasad, nodal officer for the COVID-19 vaccination programme in the state, said.

“Post-mortem examination will be conducted on the body by a medical board at state-run Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences to ascertain the cause of his death.

“A total of 151 health workers including Pahan had been vaccinated at Medanta Hospital on February 1. Nine others received the vaccine from the same vial from which Pahan was vaccinated and they are all fine. So, it is yet to be confirmed whether he died due to the vaccine,” Prasad told PTI.

If it is found that Pahan died due to the vaccine, this will be the first such case in Jharkhand, he added.—PTI