Media urged to be more careful in reporting vaccination campaign

 

The Health Ministry has urged the media to be more careful in reporting the nation’s Covid-19 vaccination campaign.

This came after several media outlets yesterday carried headlines that appeared to link a Sungai Petani nurse’s death on March 17 to a Covid-19 vaccine dose she received on March 12.

The Health Ministry has since clarified that an autopsy showed that she had died of a heart attack and there are no signs it is linked to the vaccine.

“The ongoing vaccinations being carried out in our country and all over the world is the best way to control the Covid-19 pandemic for the time being.

“Therefore, the Health Ministry urges the media to be more careful in reporting news related to this programme. It is hoped that the media would report news that is true and accurate and has been verified with the Health Ministry especially when it involves sensitive issues.

“Reporting news that is inaccurate or outright false can affect the smoothness of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Program,” the ministry’s director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a statement today.

At least one media outlet involved, Harian Metro, has since publicly apologised and amended the offending article.

The Malay-language daily said it did not intend for its headline to suggest the vaccine had caused her heart attack and said it is sorry for the confusion and anxiety it had caused.

According to Penang Health Department director Dr Asmayani Khalib yesterday, the 45-year-old nurse worked at Penang Hospital and has a history of chronic hypertension.

Nevertheless, she had no contraindications against receiving the vaccine and appeared stable during the 15-minute monitoring period after receiving the vaccine. She also complained of soreness at the injection site, but it did not affect her ability to work her regular shifts at the hospital.

On March 16, however, she began complaining of breathing difficulties and was found unconscious in the wee hours of the next day. She was rushed to the Sultan Abdul Halim Hospital in Sungai Petani here she was declared dead.

“An autopsy showed that the cause of death is a heart attack, and there are no signs of anaphylaxis or allergic reactions. Therefore, her death is not related to the Covid-19 vaccination.

“The Penang Health Department urges the public not to disseminate misinformation to avoid misconceptions about the Covid-19 vaccine,” Asmayani said.

For context, on the date where she complained of breathing difficulties, Malaysia has administered Covid-19 vaccine doses to 346,508 people, including 20,393 doses in Penang.

In the current phase of the immunisation campaign, the government aims to vaccinate 500,000 frontliners by April, such as healthcare workers, security forces personnel, lawmakers, and teachers with more than one chronic illness.

In comparison, Statistics Department figures show that cardiovascular diseases killed 130.8 people in Malaysia prematurely in 2019, for every 100,000 people between the ages of 30 to 69.

Premature deaths are defined as deaths that occur between 30 to 69 years old.

In Malaysia, the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency is responsible for collecting reports of suspected adverse reactions following immunisation and analysing them to spot “safety signals” that may suggest a problem. - Mkini