In a shocking development, a 65-year-old man in Kerala was administered two doses of the Covishield vaccine on the same day. The family members of the sexagenerian had alleged that the incident had occurred due to the apathy of the health authorities. However, the authorities had said he had gone to both the counters and received both the doses. 

According to reports, the incident had happened on Monday at a primary health centre at Karuvatta in the Alappuzha district of Kerala. 65-year-old Bhaskaran had gone to the health centre to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. The health authorities have said that there were two counters for vaccination at the centre.

Bhaskaran had first taken the jab from the first counter and he went to the second counter and received the second dose of the vaccine.  Bhaskaran's family had claimed that the health workers didn't stop him from taking the second dose. His wife said Bhaskaran took the vaccine from the first counter and when he reached the second one, he has got administered another dose. 

She further said that her husband thought two doses of vaccines need to be taken together and the health officials also didn't ask and check his data and she came to know about the incident when Bhaskaran had asked her to take the second dose. According to PTI,  a senior medical officer of the district has said that Bhaskaran had taken under observation on the same day and later he was admitted to the Haripad Taluk Hospital. He was stable and safe.

In a similar incident last week, a 51-year-old man in Odisha was administered two doses of COVID-19 vaccines on the same day. After receiving the first dose of the vaccine, 51-year-old Sahu was kept under observation at the camp as per the vaccination protocols. While he was under observation, a nurse at the camp had administered another dose of the vaccine, without being aware that Sahu had just received his first shot and was under observation.

Shocked by the development, he was then put under observation for two more hours and he was given an ORS drink. Sahu said that he told to the nurse that he had received the first shot of the vaccine, but by the time, the nurse had already administered the second dose of the vaccine. Rajendra Behera, the observer of the vaccination centre has said that Sahu was asked to undergo observation for two more hours. 

Behera has said that Sahu had gone to the vaccination place instead of going to the observation room after receiving the first dose. It was by mistake that he was administered the second dose. According to reports, the vaccination guidelines dictate a time gap between the two doses of vaccines. India has three vaccines in operation - Covishield, Covaxin, and Sputnik V. Currently, two doses of Covishield are being administered at the interval of 12-16 weeks based on the recommendations by the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19. The two doses of Covaxin are being administered in four to six weeks while the two doses of Sputnik V are administered at the interval of 21-90 days.