It was earlier in 2021 that 24-year-old Mitha Mohan, along with her batchmates took the first shot of Covishield, the COVID-19 vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and produced by pharma giant AstraZeneca. The second shot was due in a few days for her, a Bachelor of Dental Surgery student of Government Medical College, Kannur and her batchmates. However, her classmates remember how Mitha developed rashes, allergies and vomiting, following which she was subjected to an RT PCR test and her result turned out to be positive. Two days ago, Mitha succumbed to the virus.
The students are now protesting in the college's premises, not against the vaccine, but the medical college, alleging that Mitha was denied fair treatment. Earlier, in a statement to various media outlets, the medical college had said that Mitha was allowed special concession and treatment because she was a student of the same institution. "We want the college to apologise and admit their mistake to the media. Mitha's parents have said that she was denied proper treatment, in a complaint," says Sreelakshmi, a protesting student. We are yet to access a copy of that complaint.
The protest which is being organised by the students' union chairman Vinayak Vijay has entered its third day. The students say that they will continue the protest until the college comes out with a statement. "The second shot of our vaccine is due in a few days. We do not know if the vaccine caused her death, but had the treatment been better, Mitha would have still been alive," says Sreelakshmi. Earlier, a health worker who received the vaccine jab had also died in Telangana.
We have contacted the college and the health ministry for a comment on the same. This copy will be updated when they respond.
