Over 3.8 Lakh Vaccinated Against Covid-19, 580 Adverse Events Reported

A total of 381,305 people across India have been vaccinated against the coronavirus disease Covid-19 so far, the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare said today (18 January).

Beneficiaries have received the vaccine over 7,704 sessions. The numbers reported by the government are as of 5 pm today, the third day of India's vaccination drive.

On 18 January alone, 148,266 people received the vaccine. The states with the most Covid-19 vaccine beneficiaries were Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu Kashmir, and Jharkhand.

After the vaccination, 580 AEFIs or 'adverse events following immunisation' were reported, the Health Ministry revealed.

Seven persons were hospitalised across Delhi (3), Uttarakhand (1), Chhattisgarh (1), and Karnataka (2). Two of these cases have been discharged and the remaining are under medical observation.

Two deaths were reported after inoculation too – a 52-year-old man from Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, and a 43-year-old man from Bellary, Karnataka. The post mortem for the UP man said the case was "not related to vaccination". The post mortem for the person in Karnataka is expected to take place today.

Adverse events can sometimes follow immunisation. The World Health Organization describes AEFI as an "untoward medical occurrence... which does not necessarily have a causal relationship with the usage of the vaccine".

Adverse effects can range from minor side-effects to more severe reactions.

India's Covid-19 vaccination drive began on 16 January. Three crore people are expected to receive the vaccine in the first phase. Beneficiaries will include government and private health workers, sanitation workers, military personnel, police and paramilitary personnel, home guard, disaster management volunteers, civil defence volunteers, revenue officials associated with containment and surveillance, and other workers operating on the Covid-19 frontline.

The vaccination drive aside, India is making progress in controlling Covid-19. The country's total recovered cases now exceed the active ones by over one crore. The number of active cases in the country is 208,012 while recoveries amount to 10,211,342. India’s recovery rate has gone over 96 per cent.

In addition, the share of active cases within the total positive cases in India has gone below 2 per cent for the first time, the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare said on 17 January.