The Andhra Pradesh government on Wednesday paid Rs 50 lakh compensation to the kin of village volunteer P Lalitha, who had died of complications after taking a coronavirus vaccine shot. Authorities are yet to ascertain if her death was an adverse event following immunisation (AEFI). The Principal Secretary, Revenue, sent a cheque to the branch manager of the State Bank of India (SBI), AP Secretariat Branch in Velagapudi and asked him to transfer the funds. The money was deposited in the bank account of R. Vasudeva Rao, who is related to the volunteer, in Srikakulam district.
Lalitha (28) took the vaccine along with eight other volunteers on Sunday. All others suffered headache and fever-like symptoms while her condition turned serious. Though she took medicine and stayed home to recover, she soon passed away. She is survived by her husband and an 8-year-old son.
Following Lalitha's death, Minister Sediri Appala Raju visited the community hospital. He also spoke to her family members and declared an immediate monetary relief of Rs 2 lakh.
Andhra Pradesh Health Commissioner Katamaneni Bhaskar on Wednesday said the state will start administering the second dose of coronavirus vaccines for frontline workers from Saturday.
He said all the healthcare and ICDS (Integrated Child Development Services) workers should take their second vaccination shot at the same place they were inoculated for the first time. Bhaskar reminded that the second shot should be taken 28 days after the first dose.
He directed all the health care workers and ICDS personnel to finish taking their first vaccine dose before February 25.
Likewise, he directed employees from all other departments to complete vaccination by March 5, clarifying that there will be no vaccination for them after that date. Until Tuesday evening, the southern state vaccinated more than 3.24 lakh frontline workers for coronavirus.
The Indian government has maintained that no case of serious or severe AEFI is attributable to the vaccination till date. Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan told reporters earlier this week that the share of AEFI stands at 0.000312% of the total vaccination.
"There have been a few deaths reported of those who have received vaccines. However, it has not been established that their cause of death is a vaccine. I would like to appeal to everyone that the vaccines are safe," he had said on Monday.