UP MAN DIES, OFFICIALS SAY NO LINK TO VACCINE

LUCKNOW: A 46-year-old hospital employee in Uttar Pradesh’s Moradabad town, who died a day after getting vaccinated for Covid-19, suffered a cardiac arrest, his post-mortem report released on Monday said, even as the state government and the man’s family traded charges on whether the inoculation was linked to his death.

Mahipal Singh, a ward boy at the Moradabad district hospital, got the Covishield vaccine on Saturday, the first-day of India’s Covid-19 immunisation drive. Later, he complained of breathlessness and chest pain, alleged his family members, and was admitted to the district hospital where he died on Sunday.

On Monday, Moradabad chief medical officer Dr MC Garg denied the family’s allegations and said the post-mortem report found “cardio pulmonary disease” as the cause of the death. “Mahipal Singh died of cardiac arrest; it has nothing to do with the Covid-19 vaccine. The fact came to light in Singh’s postmortem report,” said Garg.

The CMO said on orders of the district magistrate, he visited Singh’s place and met his family members who said he contracted pneumonia a few weeks ago. “While carrying out the post-mortem, we also observed that the size of his heart was enlarged. We found blood clotting in the heart. It clearly shows that he died of heart attack or septicemic shock,” he added

But his family said Singh’s health deteriorated after getting the vaccine jab on Saturday. “Initially, we thought it is normal ...By the time we reached emergency, my father was dead,” said Vishal Singh, Singh’s son. HTC