Vaccination confusion in Hailakandi; 4 staff relieved from duty, "Matter being probed," Jt. Director

Sayantan Bhattacharjee and Sagarika Bhattacharjee, two siblings from Tarapur, Silchar of the Cachar district went to Hailakandi on June 21 to get themselves inoculated with the 2nd dose of Covaxin. After searching on the Cowin app for some time, they found that the Narayanpur Primary School centre in Hailakandi has slots available for Covaxin 2nd dose. Accordingly, they went there for vaccination, but after getting themselves inoculated, they realised that they were given Covishield doses instead, which created immediate panic among both the recipients.

After confronting the health workers responsible for inoculating people, the latter replied that they were provided by the health department with Covishield vaccines only. But many people like Sayantan and Sagarika had got messages on their phones suggesting the availability of the Covaxin vaccine. Even the Cowin app through which they booked their slots for vaccination had shown Covaxin vaccine available and not Covishield. Naturally, this confusion and mismanagement had created huge panic and fear among people as there is very limited information available regarding the mix and match of different vaccine types.

What’s more problematic is the fact that the health workers who were responsible for this vaccination catastrophe had even offered fake vaccination certificate of the recipient’s choice when asked about why the vaccination certificate mentions that they have been inoculated with two doses of Covaxin, whereas they were rather administered with Covishield as their 2nd dose of vaccine. And this entire episode of mismanagement was recorded covertly with the help of a smartphone which later was circulated over social media platforms, thereby creating huge controversy surrounding this dangerous mishap.

Sayantan Bhattacharjee has already shared his worries and fear regarding this incident, as the Government of India had already made it clear to not mix and match different vaccines. The administration is yet to come up with an official statement surrounding this controversy. Dr Ashutosh Barman, Joint Director Health Hailakandi, said that the whole incident is reprehensible and proper action will be taken soon. He said, “As of now, the four health workers who were responsible for that mishap in Hailakandi have been relieved of their duties. The health department is still investigating the incident thoroughly and they’ll come up with the final report of the incident. Due action will be taken against those health workers after the final report of the investigation gets submitted.” When asked about the possible side-effects of getting inoculated with two different vaccines, Dr Barman refused to comment on it stating that they don’t have sufficient information regarding this to make any valid claim.

Although the Joint Director, Health has assured that the health workers responsible for the vaccine mishap have all been relieved of their duties, many questions still remain unanswered surrounding the entire controversy. First of all, we have all seen how often the Cowin app gets faulty and shows unverified wrong information regarding the availability of vaccines. Here too, Sayantan and all others like him went to that vaccination centre in Hailakandi based on the Cowin app claiming that Covaxin will be provided at that particular centre. Secondly, if the health department has provided the centre with the Covishield vaccine only, why this information was not released to the public earlier before the immunization began. And most importantly, if Sayantan and his sister were offered a fake vaccination certificate that can claim the inoculation of any vaccine according to the recipient’s choice, how can one guarantee that such manipulation of vaccination certificate wasn’t done in the past as well?

Surely, this conundrum surrounding the mix and match of Covaxin and Covishield has brought the health department of the Hailakandi district under a strong lens of scrutiny. But only time will tell to what lengths the administration and the health department can go to ensure that such mismanagement of epic proportions doesn’t repeat ever again which can potentially threaten the lives of people.