Ronald Lam (3rd R), controller of the Center for Health Protection of Hong Kong, speaks at a press briefing at Queen Elizabeth Hospital on March 3, 2021, Hong Kong, south China.(Photo: Xinhua)
It is extremely unlikely that the death of a 63-year-old Hong Kong man who received the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine is linked to the vaccine, and Hong Kong's vaccination program will not be affected as the event was a mere coincidence, Chinese health experts said.
They noted that the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine has higher chances of severe side effects than inactivated vaccines, including the Sinovac vaccine, due to the technology used.
Yin Weidong, CEO of Chinese vaccine producer Sinovac Biotech, told the Global Times in an exclusive interview on Wednesday that the cause of the reaction to the vaccine should be determined by local health authorities and the company is tracking and waiting for the investigation results.
"But we are confident in the overall safety of the Sinovac vaccine as it was proven to be safe from observations of mass vaccinations," Yin said.
The Department of Health in Hong Kong said on Tuesday night that it received a suspended serious adverse event following COVID-19 vaccination involving a 63-year-old man who received a COVID-19 vaccine on February 26. The man subsequently developed shortness of breath on Sunday and attended the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for treatment, and passed away on the same day.
"At the moment, the causal relationship with the vaccination could not be ascertained," the Department of Health said in the announcement.
According to Hong Kong media outlet hk01.com, the deceased man had chronic bronchitis, and no side effects related to the vaccine were observed during rescue efforts at the hospital.
Ronald Lam Man-kin, Controller of the Centre for Health Protection of the Department of Health, said at the late Tuesday media briefing that an expert committee assessing clinical events related to vaccines will on Wednesday examine whether there is a link between the man's death and the vaccine, and with the consent of the family, conduct an autopsy to determine the cause of death.
Lam reiterated that the Hong Kong government approved the emergency use of the vaccine after assessment. It is safe and effective, the benefits outweigh the risks, and the vaccination program will continue, according to hk01.com.
Lam said that people with serious and uncontrolled chronic illness or those who have an allergic reaction to vaccines should not receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
Feng Duojia, president of the China Vaccine Industry Association, told the Global Times on Wednesday that it's very unlikely the death was linked to the Sinovac vaccine, and the death after vaccination was a coincidence.
Feng said that Hong Kong's vaccine campaign will not be affected by the incident.
The deceased may have died from complications triggered by bronchitis or a disease with symptoms like bronchitis, and the cause of the death could be identified through pathological examination and autopsy, Feng said.
He said that taking the Sinovac vaccine will not result in deaths, but certain groups of people such as pregnant women, and those suffering acute fever, infection and immune deficiency are not recommended to receive vaccines.
Tao Lina, a Shanghai-based medical expert on vaccines, also believed that the incident was a coincidence, and not caused by the Sinovac vaccine.
Tao told the Global Times that mRNA COVID-19 vaccines are more likely to have severe side effects than inactivated ones such as the Sinovac vaccine.
Yang Zhanqiu, a virologist at Wuhan University, said earlier that unlike inactivated vaccines, the use of mRNA-based vaccines carries the risk of causing abnormal immune dysfunction and allergy or aggravating the underlying disease, which may eventually lead to death.
Experts said that inactivated vaccine technology is very developed and has undergone decades of clinical testing, while mRNA technology has never been applied to vaccines against infectious disease.
Dozens of death incidents involving the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine have been reported in countries including Norway and Spain. In the most recent example, a Japanese woman in her 60s died after receiving the Pfizer vaccine, Japanese health authorities said on Tuesday.
The cause of death is believed to be subarachnoid hemorrhage, and the causal relationship with the vaccine is indeterminable, the Japan Times quoted the health authority as saying.
More than 52 million doses of Chinese inactivated vaccines have been administered in China as of the end of February, and Chinese vaccines have been provided to 53 countries, with no severe side effects recorded.