Woman’s death not caused by vaccine – HK experts

A HONG KONG expert team said that the second death case in the city following vaccination of Sinovac vaccines was not related to the vaccine as the autopsy report showed that the cause of death of the recipient, a 55-year-old woman, was myocardial infection and she had an aortic laceration. The woman accepted the Sinovac vaccine on March 2 and died on Saturday from a stroke.

The woman accepted the Sinovac vaccine on March 2 and died on Saturday from a stroke.

An autopsy report showed that she had serious chronic disease like high blood pressure and high cholesterol, Ivan Hung Fan Ngai, a co-convener of the committee assessing clinical cases related to vaccines in Hong Kong, said at a press conference on Monday.

A total of 91,800 doses of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) vaccines developed by Sinovac and 1,200 doses developed by BioNTech have been administered in Hong Kong as of Sunday, and 64 percent of the vaccinated population are people aged 60 and above, Ronald Lam Man-kin, Controller of the Center for Health Protection of the Department of Health said at the press conference.

As of 4 pm Saturday, 16 non-serious cases, like fever and headaches, and 45 other non-serious cases with susceptible adverse effects that need to be hospitalized have been reported to the authorities, Lam said.

Two susceptible adverse effect cases have also been reported between March 6 and 8, with the two recipients still accepting treatment in the Intensive Care Department. But the experts decided that their symptoms were not caused by the vaccines after reviewing their materials, Hung said.

According to Hung, the first susceptible adverse effect case is an 80-year-old man who is currently in danger. He has diabetes and previously had a stroke.

The second case is a 72-year-old woman. Documents show that her symptoms are related to the suspension of insulin by herself, Lee Cheuk Kwong, another coconvener of the committee, said.

Another susceptible death has been reported on Monday — a 71-year-old man who accepted the first shot on March 3, Lee said, noting that the committee would review the information and decide the cause of the man’s death after autopsy.

Hung noted that 4.4 million doses of Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine have been administered worldwide with 56 deaths reported outside Hong Kong.

Hong Kong kicked off mass vaccinations on February 26.

Hong Kong will continue the vaccination program as planned following reports of some deaths and susceptible adverse effects. So far, no evidence was found to directly link the issues to the vaccination of Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine CoronaVac, Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan Siu-chee said at another press conference on Monday.