The health ministry on Tuesday termed as “incomplete” and of “limited understanding” media reports which stated that 488 deaths between January 16 and June 7 following vaccination were linked to post-Covid complications, and highlighted that the vaccination coverage during this period was 23.5 crore.

The number of deaths reported following Covid-19 vaccination in the country is only 0.0002 per cent of the 23.5 crore doses administered, and this is within the expected death rates in a population, it said. In a population, deaths occur at a certain rate. The crude death rate in 2017, according to SRS data, was 6.3 per 1,000 people annually, the ministry said.