22 deaths post vaccination, not linked to vaccine: Health Ministry

Out of the 22 deaths reported so far following vaccination in India, the Health Ministry in a briefing on Friday said that none of the deaths is attributable to the vaccine itself.

"The number of people who died after taking Covid-19 vaccine shots have reportedly reached 22. None of these deaths have been causally linked with Covid-19 vaccination," the ministry said.

Seven days following vaccination , a 77-year-old man from Agra, Uttar Pradesh has died in the past 24 hours. According to the ministry officials, the cause of the death was "cardiogenic/septicemic shock with pre-existing diabetes".

Experts from three committees — a district, state and national-level committee are investigating the role of vaccination in mortality. The national committee, as has been stated, is expected to analyse such deaths in the coming days.

As of Friday, nearly 5.2 million vaccinations have been administered over 10.4 million sessions in India. This suggests that around 50% of the intended target has been achieved.

According to the Health Ministry spokesperson, there were 3.3 lakh vaccinations administered today and India has been the fastest, when compared with the United States, United Kingdom and Israel to reach 5 million inoculations.