BALLARI / BENGALURU: A 43-year-old Group D employee at Sandur Taluk Hospital died of a heart attack on Monday, two days after being vaccinated against Covid-19. Nagaraj, who worked as a carer, came to the hospital as usual, but soon complained of dizziness and collapsed. Sandur in the Ballari district is approximately 314 km from Bengaluru.
“Nagaraj had chest pain around 9:30 am. It was a massive heart attack. An autopsy will be done and we will have to wait for the report. It could be a coincidence, ”said Dr. BL Janardhan told TOI, adding that the participant had diabetes and high blood pressure. Nagaraj was transferred to a private hospital and died around noon.
“The Post-Immunization Preliminary Adverse Event (AEFI) revealed that the death was not due to the vaccine. However, an autopsy will be performed, ”said Pankaj Kumar Pandey, Commissioner for the Department of Health and Family Welfare. The state health department said the death was due to cardiac arrest. “None of the other health care workers who took the vaccine from the same vial had any other adverse events,” the Department of Health and Family Welfare tweeted.
Ballari Deputy Commissioner Pavan Kumar Malpati said it was too early to draw any conclusions. “The AEFI Committee will take care of that. I urge everyone to wait and not speculate on the cause of death, ”he said.
Karnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar pointed out that Nagaraj had diabetes and other comorbidities. “He received the first dose on Saturday and had no complaints about side effects until 9:00 am Monday,” said Sudhakar.
Health Ministry authorities said Nagaraj was fine after vaccination. “He suffered an acute myocardial infarction. On Monday he was asked to get medicines from the pharmacy. He reportedly collapsed near the pharmacy, ”a department source said.
Nagaraj was part of the state’s first batch to be vaccinated on Saturday, the very first day of the national vaccination drive. He was given Covishield.
