Thirty schoolchildren were vaccinated with a single syringe in Madhya Pradesh's Sagar district on Wednesday, violating the rule of single-use of syringe procedure, reports NDTV.
Jitendra, who was in charge of vaccinating the students, said he had been ordered by the "head of department" to vaccinate all the children with it.
"The person who delivered the materials only gave a single syringe," Jitendra is heard saying in a video recorded on the spot by the anxious parents.
Asked if he had been aware that one syringe should not be used to inject multiple people, Jitendra said: "I know that. That is why I asked them if I have to use just one syringe and they said 'yes'. How is this my fault? I did what I was asked to do."
Sagar district administration later lodged a first information report (FIR) against Jitendra for negligence and blatant violation of the central government's "one needle, one syringe, one time" pledge.
A departmental inquiry was also started against Dr Rakesh Roshan, the district immunization officer who was in charge of sending the vaccine and the other required materials in the morning.
The incident occurred during a Covid-19 vaccination camp for schoolchildren at Jain Public Higher Secondary School in Sagar city. The parents raised alarm after noticing that the children were being vaccinated with a single syringe.
The collector in charge, Kshitij Singhal, immediately instructed the chief medical and health officer to conduct an inspection.
Jitendra, however, was not present during the inspection. Sources said his phone had also been switched off since the incident came to light.
A month before Covid-19 vaccination started in India in January 2021, the Union Ministry for Health and Family Welfare had pledged a strict "one needle, one syringe, only one time" protocol.
Similar protocols have also been advised by international agencies, including WHO and Unicef.
Disposable syringes, meant for single use, have been around since the 1990s since HIV started spreading.
