Govt Confirms first death from reaction to vaccine

Subject: Science & tech

Context: A government panel studying COVID-19 vaccine side effects on Tuesday confirmed the first death due to anaphylaxis following vaccination.

Concept:

According to a report submitted by the national Adverse Events Following Immunisation (AEFI) Committee, a 68-year-old man died from anaphylaxis (severe allergic reaction) after being vaccinated with Covishield on March 8.
The death is reported as “vaccine product related reaction” in the report.

Adverse event following immunization (AEFI)

Adverse event following immunization (AEFI) is defined as any untoward medical occurrence which follows immunization and which does not necessarily have a causal relationship with the usage of the vaccine.
The adverse event may be any unfavorable or unintended sign, abnormal laboratory finding, symptom or disease.
Reported adverse events can either be true adverse events, i.e. actually a result of the vaccine or immunization process, or coincidental events that are not due to the vaccine or immunization process, but are temporally associated with immunization.

What are the categories of AEFIs?

Vaccine product-related reaction: inherent property of the vaccine formulation
Vaccine quality defect-related reaction: deficient quality of the vaccine, diluent and/or delivery equipment from the manufacturer’s side
Immunization error-related reaction: due to inappropriate handling or administration of the vaccine, thus preventable
Immunization anxiety-related reaction: arising from anxiety about immunization
Coincidental event: is caused by something other than the vaccine product, immunization error or immunization anxiety.

An AEFI will be considered serious if it