74 AEFI applications for compensation received, none approved so far

PARLIAMENT | The Health Ministry has received 74 applications for compensation for adverse events following immunisation (AEFI) and none has been approved, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.

Deputy Health Minister Aaron Ago Dagang said there are currently 58 applications were being investigated by the Special Covid-19 Vaccine Pharmacovigilance Committee while nine applications were being investigated by the Special Financial Assistance Adverse Effects of Covid-19 Vaccine committee.

There were seven applications that have been rejected, said the deputy minister.

As of Oct 27, there were 22,132 reports, or 0.45 responses out of 1,000 vaccine recipients, on adverse effects through the MySejahtera smartphone application, said Aaron Ago.

Of the 22,132 reports, 1,483 were categorised as 'serious', or 0.03 reports per 1,000 vaccine recipients.

"All cases categorised as 'serious' will be investigated thoroughly at health facilities. These reports will then be forwarded to the Pharmacovigilance Committee to investigate causality.

"Among these serious cases, there are 519 deaths... However, after the causality investigations were conducted, none of the deaths can be linked directly to Covid-19 vaccines," he said.

Aaron Ago (above) was responding to Alor Gajah MP Mohd Redzuan Md Yusof who asked what safety measures were being taken by the Health Ministry to ensure that vaccine recipients receive the correct vaccine according to their needs and what sort of compensation has been paid out to vaccine recipients who suffered adverse effects.

Mohd Redzuan Md Yusof

Putrajaya's Special Financial Assistance Adverse Effects of Covid-19 Vaccine scheme will pay up to RM50,000 for treatment of serious adverse effects and up to RM500,000 for loss of bodily functions or deaths.

In a supplementary question, Mohd Redzuan asked the government if it was true that the Sinovac vaccine was more likely to produce an adverse effect.

To this, Aaron Ago said further studies were required and assured that earlier studies had shown Sinovac was safe for use.

"I believe that the rate of adverse effect might be due to new Covid-19 variants such as Delta... This might have resulted in more serious adverse effects for vaccine recipients," he said. - Mkini