A 55-year old healthcare worker from Mancherial district of Telangana died after being vaccinated on 19 January though the state health department said her death was due to “underlying morbidities” ruling out vaccination as the cause of her demise. This is the third such death in Telangana after vaccination.

Susheela, the Anganwadi worker, had complained of shortness of breath and giddiness and she was initially admitted to a hospital in Mancheria on 29 January before she was referred to Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS). She expired at 11 pm the next day.

The Anganwadi worker had kyphoscol iosis, an abnormal curvature of the spine and had diabetes, hypertension and suffered from long-term lung infection.

According to director of Public Health and Family Welfare, GS Rao the “cause of death is clearly indicative of underlying morbidities and not due to Covid vaccination.” He further stated “Death occurred due to cardio- respiratory arrest triggered by multiple morbidities such as Kyphoscoliosis with restricted lung disease, respiratory infection with type 2 respiratory failure, accelerated hypertension with left ventricular failure.”

Earlier an ambulance driver from Nirmal and another Anganwadi worker from Warangal had died after being vaccinated.

Gujarat vaccination drive

Gujarat began the vaccination of frontline workers against Covid-19 on Sunday, with district collectors, police and civic commissioners being among those who took the jabs in the initial hours of the drive, according to a PTI report from Ahmedabad.

Talking to reporters after taking the vaccine shot, Ahmedabad Police Commissioner Sanjay Srivastava said: “I am feeling absolutely fine after getting vaccinated… policemen are highly exposed, so the vaccination will protect them from the infection”.

Ahmedabad Collector Sandip Sagale, who was vaccinated at the civil hospital in Ahmedadab, said he and other senior state officials joined the drive “to express our appreciation for the work done by the frontline warriors during the coronavirus pandemic”.

He also appealed to all frontline workers to get themselves vaccinated against the viral disease, saying the vaccines are “completely safe and effective”. The Gujarat health department on Saturday said it had covered around 50 per cent of the healthcare workers in the state in the first round of the vaccination drive.