A 65-year-old man died within hours of being administered the Covishield vaccine Friday in Kesharpur panchayat area of Jharkhand’s Simdega district, according to the district administration.

The man, identified as Jethu Kotwar, fell unconscious after taking the vaccine and died enroute to the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Ranchi, where he was referred for further treatment.

Deputy Commissioner Sushant Gaurav said, “A 65-year-old man died after being administered the vaccine on March 19. We are waiting for the postmortem report after which we will be able to know the cause of death.”

The incident occurred Friday morning after Kotwar was given the first shot of Covishield vaccine. Sources said he had walked for a few kilometres from his village to the vaccination centre. Civil Surgeon Pramod Kumar Sinha said that after Kotwar became unconscious, he was given primary treatment at the vaccination site.

“Later we brought him to the district hospital. His blood pressure was 170/90 mmHg and blood sugar level was at 370 mg/dl. We referred him to RIMS, however, he was declared brought dead,” said Sinha.

He said there could be multiple possibilities due to which he became unconscious. “He may have had high blood pressure and blood sugar and it could be a mere coincidence, or something else. An inquiry is underway,” he said.