Epidemiologist Dr Avery Hinds has revealed that at least four people have died after having taken the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.
However, he did not specify which vaccine.
In response to a question at the Ministry of Health’s virtual media conference on Monday, Hinds pointed out that the deaths resulting post vaccination, were persons who only had their first dose and those deaths would have occurred less than two weeks after vaccination.
Hinds said: “We are actually still compiling and validating the vaccination information. There have not been many cases of where vaccines were reported to have been on board or have been delivered in the event of a death.
“In those where it has happened, there are maybe about four or five we have on record and they’re usually persons who would have contracted illness pretty soon after having the vaccine, but we’re still attempting to get the documentation on the vaccine itself from some of those individuals. So that’s something that will be refined and clarified.”
He noted that such a result is in keeping with the expectation that the first dose of vaccine still needs a couple weeks before one’s immunity is boosted sufficiently by it.
“And even with the first dose of vaccine on board, the immunity is not optimised yet, which is why your second dose of vaccine is of utmost importance. If you had that first dose you need to have the second dose in order to get the most out of your vaccination, both in terms of the strength of the immune response and the duration, meaning how long that immune response will last,” Hinds noted.
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