A 67-year-old woman, who was given a shot each of Covaxin and Covishied in a short interval of time at a vaccination camp in Bihar recently, was doing fine, said the health department on Saturday.
On June 16, Sunila Devi, wife of Ravindra Mahto, was administered shots of the two vaccines in a space of five minutes at the Utkramit Vidyalaya, a rural camp in Patna district’s Beldarichak village.
“My grandmother first stood in the queue meant for her age group and was administered Covaxin. After taking the jab, the auxiliary nursing midwife (ANM) asked her to sit on a chair. After five minutes, another ANM, giving shots to the 18-45 years age group, administered her a dose of Covishield. My grandmother did not know that the two shots should not be taken on the same day,” said Akash Kumar, Devi’s grandson, adding that Devi was running a high fever till Friday.
Akash also claimed that the two queues for vaccinating the 18-45 years age group and those above 45 years of age were held in one room. “The doctors are enquiring only over the phone. We got medicines for the high fever my grandmother had till yesterday, but she’s feeling weak today,” he added.
Manoj Kumar, executive director, State Health Society, has assured action against the guilty. “We have issued show-cause notices to our officials and expect their response on Monday. We will definitely take action against the guilty because we had specifically instructed officials not to have two different vaccines at one session site to avoid mixing of vaccines.”
The camp was headed by Dr Sanjay Kumar, medical officer-in-charge of the Punpun primary health centre.
The State Health Society, Bihar, meanwhile, tweeted on Saturday night that the woman is doing fine right now.