New Delhi: The district immunisation officer in Madhya Pradesh’s Sagar city was suspended on Thursday after 39 children were administered Covid-19 vaccine allegedly by the same syringe at a private school, news agency PTI reported.
According to the report, the incident took place on Wednesday at the Jain Higher Secondary School, during a mega vaccination campaign, after which an FIR was registered against Jitendra Ahirwar, the person who had allegedly administered the vaccine, a district official said.
The children, aged 15 and above, were from Classes 9 to 12, a health official said.
Notably, the parents of some of the children on Wednesday saw the person using the same syringe to inoculate the children and raised an alarm for the negligence, the officials said.
After they staged a protest, Sagar’s in-charge Collector Kshitij Singhal sent district Chief Medical and Health Officer (CMHO) Dr DK Goswami to inquire about the incident and came to know that the children were administered vaccine by the same syringe.
However, after the protest, Ahirwar fled the spot when the CMHO inspected the school.
Taking serious cognisance of the incident, Sagar divisional commissioner Mukesh Shukla on Thursday suspended district vaccination officer Dr Shobharam Roshan on the basis of the CMHO’s report.
Notably, the suspension order was issued by the divisional commissioner who directed the collector to appoint another official in place of Dr Roshan.
Meanwhile, an official from Gopal Ganj police station said an FIR against Ahirwar has been registered under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 336 (rash or negligent act endangering human life or personal safety of others).
On the basis of the CMHO report, the collector asked for a departmental probe and action against Dr Roshan, Singhal said.
Meanwhile, health officials examined all the 39 children and the reports of 19 of them were found to be normal while the rest of the reports are awaited, Goswami added.