MOH Says No Links Found Between Covid-19 Vaccine & Cardiac Arrest Suffered By 72-Year-Old
Since last December, Covid-19 vaccines have been progressively rolled out to frontliners and seniors in Singapore.
NCID Staff To Receive Covid-19 Vaccine From 30 Dec, Other Healthcare Institutions Will Follow Soon
On Tuesday (16 Feb), a 72-year-old man received his first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine.
However later that day, he suffered a cardiac arrest and had to be admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU).
Though the events happened on the same day, Ministry of Health (MOH) said there are no indications that the cardiac arrest was related to the Covid-19 vaccine jab that he received.
Man suffered cardiac arrest on day of vaccine
According to The Straits Times (ST), the 72-year-old man was assessed by healthcare personnel and deemed suitable for the Covid-19 vaccine.
On Tuesday (16 Feb) morning, he received his first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine.
As per protocol, he stayed on-site for a 30-minute observation after the vaccination — he remained well at that time.
But in the evening, the elderly man suffered a cardiac arrest and was conveyed to the ICU at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH).
No sign that cardiac arrest was due to vaccine
2 days later on Thursday (18 Feb), MOH released a statement saying that initial assessment by TTSH did not find evidence that the vaccine had caused the heart attack.
The hospital will carry out further tests to determine the cause of the cardiac arrest, reported Channel NewsAsia (CNA).
Notably, MOH reportedly said the man has a history of cancer, hypertension, as well as hyperlipidaemia, which can lead to heart diseases.
Important for elderly to get vaccinated
Responding to the incident, MOH stated that the World Health Organisation (WHO) had found no evidence that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine increases risks of death in seniors.
MOH also reiterated the importance of vaccinating the elderly, reports TODAY Online.
This is especially because they are more vulnerable to severe diseases and complications with regard to Covid-19 infections.
Isolated incidents should not deter individuals from vaccination
While this incident was extremely unfortunate, there is no evidence that the Covid-19 vaccine was linked to the cardiac arrest.
As such, these isolated incidents should not deter Singaporeans from getting inoculated.
Meanwhile, our thoughts are with the elderly man. We hope he has a speedy and smooth recovery.
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Featured image adapted from European Pharmaceutical Review and Wikipedia.
