‘Vaccine cocktail’ in Uttar Pradesh: Wrong vaccine given to 20 villagers as second dose

In what could be termed as a major administrative goof-up, around 20 villagers in the Siddharthnagar district of Uttar Pradesh were administered the wrong vaccine as the second dose. While they had got Covishield as the first dose, they were later given Covaxin.

Chief Medical Officer, Siddharthnagar, Dr Sandeep Chaudhary has ordered a probe into the incident.

“This is a case of medical negligence. The guilty will not be spared,” he said in a statement on Wednesday.

The incident was reported from Badhni Primary Health Care Centre where around 20 people from Audahi Kalan village were given Covishield as their first dose of vaccine but were administered Covaxin as second dose.

Ram Surat, a resident of Audahi Kalan village, said that he was given the first dose of vaccine on April 1 and the second dose on May 14. “The first dose I got was Covishield while the second dose was Covaxin. When I went for the second dose, no one enquired as to which vaccine I got as the first dose. No one even checked the card given to me. Thus, I was given Covaxin instead of Covishield,” he told reporters in Siddharthnagar.

He said he is not facing any medical issue so far. “I am fit at the moment but there is a fear that something might go wrong anytime. No one from the PHC has so far come to advise me what to do,” he said.

Ram Surat claimed that around 20 people from his village were given the wrong vaccine as the second dose.

CMO Siddharthnagar, Dr Sandeep Chaudhary said, “There are no instructions from the government of India to administer a cocktail of vaccines and hence this is a matter of negligence. The person who is getting the first dose of a particular vaccine should get the second dose of the same vaccine as well. An enquiry was ordered in this case and our senior officers went to the spot and conducted an enquiry. On the basis of this, clarification has been asked from people who have been named in the enquiry report. After this proper action will be taken against those who will be found guilty.”

He said that the health workers have gone and checked the people who got the wrong vaccine and all of them are fit and fine and not facing any health issues at the moment. “We will keep an eye on the entire situation,” the CMO said.