MUMBAI: Of 49lakh Covid-19 vaccinations in the city, there have been 66 severe and serious adverse events following immunization (AEFI) since the drive started.
Of these cases, 24 have led to fatalities (a probability of 0.0000048%) though none have been directly linked with vaccination.
Most of the deaths were found to be coincidental and in people above 50 years with underlying health problems.
AEFIs are classified as minor, severe and serious medical events that occur within 28 days of immunization.
According to BMC data, 993 adverse events have been reported in the past five months, of which 927 were minor and 31 severe which required hospitalisation for a brief period.
There are 35 serious adverse events also listed which include 24 deaths and nine cases of paralysis, weakness or prolonged hospitalisation.
It shows less than five deaths per million vaccinations in Mumbai, said an official, adding that it should put all fears about vaccine safety to rest.
Of the 24 deaths, one was of a 33-year-old.
Rest were people above 50 years of which a significant number was over 60 years.
Four of the deceased were women and 20 were men, though gender disparity could be explained by the fact that 4.5lakh more men have taken the vaccine compared to women in Mumbai.
Two deaths were of Covaxin recipients and 22 of those who took Covishield, a disparity in keeping with the fact that of 49 lakh doses, over 44.5lakh administered were of Covishield.
“It is reassuring that there is not a single death because of vaccination per se.
Deaths occurred in people who had underlying health conditions, comorbidities, and vaccination was largely coincidental,” said Dr Mukesh Agarwal, who heads BMC’s AEFI committee.
Hypertension, diabetes, obesity were some common comorbidities seen.
Four of the deceased had tested positive within 3-4 days of vaccination and the deaths could have been due to complications of Covid, another doctor said.
Mumbai’s AEFI audit panel found that 14 of 24 deaths were co-incidental, meaning a clear cause for death other than vaccination was found.
Two were attributed to ‘indeterminate reactions’ while postmortem results for 8 are yet to arrive.
Indeterminate reaction means the deaths occurred soon after immunization but there was no definitive evidence to link it to vaccines.
A doctor said no cases of thromboembolic event linked to the vaccine have been found.
After incidents of stroke post vaccination with Covishield were reported, the national AEFI panel recently revealed there was a miniscule but definitive risk of thromboembolic events.