Doctor charged for 2021 death of nurse following Covid vaccination

The Georgian Prosecutor General’s Office on Wednesday filed charges against a doctor of a clinic in the country’s southern Akhaltsikhe municipality whose alleged neglect of duties led to the death of a nurse in the facility last year after she received a Covid vaccine. 

The charges come as the latest development in the case of the death of Megi Bakradze - a nurse in the Akhaltsikhe Imedi clinic - on March 19, 2021 with anaphylaxis - a severe and potentially life-threatening outcome of triggers including allergic reactions.

Bakradze died after receiving a dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the first batch received in the country in early March, giving the case a public significance amid authorities’ calls for citizens to ensure they were vaccinated against the virus.

The Prosecutor’s Office said while guidelines required doctors to monitor individuals for potential complications for 30 minutes following vaccination, the clinic employee in question had checked Bakradze’s condition after 20 minutes and left the clinic without legitimate grounds, despite “obvious allergic reactions” being identifiable with the nurse. Bakradze died after her transportation to a Tbilisi clinic the next day.

Along with two other medical workers, the doctor in question was earlier also charged with providing fake information over the incident, claiming she had acted in line with the guidelines to save the nurse.

She is facing three to five years in prison if found guilty in the incident, with the case over her false report pending in Tbilisi City Court.

As a rapidly manifesting, life-threatening reaction, anaphylaxis requires immediate first aid to prevent fatal consequences.