Bangalore: A 43-year-old health department worker in Karnataka died of a massive heart attack Monday. His demise came two days after he was administered COVID-19 vaccine, the government said. The deceased, Nagaraju of Ballari district, was a permanent employee of health department. He was vaccinated January 16 at around 1.00pm and he was normal till Monday morning, department officials said.
When contacted, Dr CN Manjunath, Director, Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research, an autonomous government institute, said, “The death is only a coincidence and not related to the vaccine.” Dr Manjunath is also a member of the technical advisory committee, Karnataka government, on COVID-19.
“Today morning when Nagaraju came to work, he complained of chest pain at around 9.30am and collapsed. He was treated immediately and referred to Jindal Sanjeevani hospital. The highest level of treatment was provided, but he couldn’t be saved,” the health department said in a statement. None of the other health care workers who received the vaccine from the same vial had any adverse events, it added.
The district level AEFI (Adverse Events Following Immunisation) Committee held detailed discussions and concluded that Nagaraju’s death was due to ‘cardio respiratory arrest secondary to acute antereo septal wall Myocardial Infarction (heart attack).”