Three healthcare staff face action

Acting in a case of negligence in which health workers had administered a dose of Covaxin to 20 villagers who had been given Covishield in their first jab, the health department on Thursday transferred the health centre in-charge Dr SK Patel, suspended auxillary nurse midwife (ANM) Kamlawati and served show-cause notice to block vaccination in-charge Dr Shanti Singh.

Chief medical officer (CMO) Dr Sandeep Chaudhary issued order for action against three employees hours before the chief minister Yogi Adityanth arrived in Siddharthnagar to review Covid management and take stock of preparations being made by the district administration to protect children from Japanese Encephalitis (JE) and Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES).

He claimed action had been taken on the basis of the report submitted by the two-member inquiry committee consisting of district vaccination in-charge Dr Saurabh Chaturvedi and deputy chief medical officer Dr DK Chaudhary.

The victims of vaccine goof-up, all resident of Audahi Kala village, were given the first dose of Covishield on April 1 at Barhni primary health centre in the area.

On May 14, they were accidentally administered Covaxin as their second dose by the health care workers.

All three are in the 45-plus age group.

While there is no report of any adverse impact on any one of them, a team of doctors visited Audahi Kala village on Thursday for their health check-up.

A member of the team Dr VK Singh said the villagers were healthy and there was no adverse side effect of the two separate doses.

“We are keeping a watch on the health condition of the villagers. Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) has been told to visit their houses to collect the health report of the villagers,” he said.

Meanwhile, addressing a press conference at Delhi, NITI Aayog member VK Paul said administering different vaccines to any person in the two slotted doses is not a cause of concern for the recipient.

“If a person gets the second dose of different vaccine, any significant effects were unlikely. The case of administering two different vaccine doses at health centre in UP should be investigated,” he said.

Paul, who also heads the country’s Covid-19 task force, said, the protocol clearly states that two doses of the same vaccine should be given to the beneficiaries.