No deaths caused by vaccines; few serious events - KJ

 

Newly minted Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has pledged greater transparency on Malaysia’s Covid-19 situation by publishing detailed data starting next week.

This will include "adverse events" reported by those who received the Covid-19 vaccine. He said data shows only a small proportion of them experience serious Adverse Events Following Immunisation (AEFI).

He said out of 34.46 million vaccine doses administered up to Aug 30, the ministry has received reports of 0.53 AEFIs for every 1,000 doses. Only 0.04 out of 1,000 doses are reported as serious AEFI.

Most of the serious cases only required a short stint in hospital for observation and treatment, and not a single death has been causally linked to the vaccinations.

“However, to ease our people’s anxiety, I have discussed this with (Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah).

“We will release a huge amount of data by next week so you can see exactly what kind of AEFI it is – whether it is headache, fever, and even thromboembolic events.

“We will release it as part of my commitment to provide more transparency to you by next week on the AEFI numbers,” Khairy said during maiden press conference as health minister today.

He added that the Health Ministry received feedback on AEFI through the MySejahtera application at a rate of 20.7 responses for every 1,000 doses.

This reporting rate is considered high and gives some indication of the AEFI being experienced by vaccine recipients.

For the record, in medical terms, "adverse events" refer to undesired events following a medical procedure whether or not caused by the procedure itself.

This contrasts with the term "adverse reactions" where a causal link between the procedure and the undesired event is suspected or has been established.

[More to follow] - Mkini