Health Ministry: No evidence linking covid19 vaccine, deaths

Health Ministry principal medical officer Dr Maryam Abdool-Richards has said there is no evidence to suggest a relationship between two recent deaths and the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Speaking at the ministry’s media conference on Monday, Abdool-Richards said,

“There is no evidence to suggest a relationship between the covid19 vaccine that was given within a couple days and the deaths of these people."

She added, "We don’t give any details about the situation of the deaths and the findings around that due to patient confidentiality and ethics that we follow." There have been claims of such a link in the case of a man in south Trinidad who was vaccinated and afterwards became paralysed and died. There has been similar speculation over Energy Minister Franklin Khan's being vaccinated last week and dying suddently on Saturday. Khan had a history of heart problems.

Abdool-Richards said no decrease in vaccine acceptance has been observed since the two deaths were reported in the media.

She reiterated that “the Ministry of Health is not aware of any evidence and there is no evidence to suggest that these two recent deaths which are in the public domain are related to the AstraZeneca vaccine.

"As per the WHO recommendations, which look at the safety and effectiveness of the vaccines over a large number of people, the AstraZeneca vaccine remains a safe and effective form of protection in line with the existing public health measures to prevent covid19.

"The benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine greatly and significantly outweigh the risks that exist.”

Abdool-Richards said while recent reports by drug regulators in the UK say there is a risk of thromboembolic events (blood clots) in four in a million people, the Health Ministry is not guided by any one country’s recommendations.

“At this time we are guided by robust evidence from the WHO, which looks at collating evidence from not one, but several countries. We keep a check of adverse events, of which we have none so far. The WHO indicates a significant benefit of the AstraZeneca vaccine in preventing covid19 in our population.”

Abdool-Richards said there are factors doctors take into account to determine if someone is at risk of blood clots. She said people coming to be vaccinated are assessed at the health centre, and if anyone is concerned about comorbidities, they can consult their own doctor.

She explained, “We look at the presence of other comorbid conditions, pre-existing medical conditions, the administration of other medications somebody may be on, risk factors, and inherited diseases that may pre-dispose someone to a clotting/thromboembolic event, and this sort of assessment is done on a two-tiered basis, by your primary care physician as well as people at the local health centre where you go to have the vaccine administered.”

Mental health director Dr Hazel Othello also strongly encouraged people to take the vaccine. She addressed the issue of vaccine hesitancy because of misinformation being spread in traditional and social media.

“Misinformation can make it difficult for people to make the decision to take the vaccine, but this is why we have been consistently telling people to consult accurate sources of information.

"The decision is a personal one, but I encourage you to do it," she urged, "as the benefits far outweigh the risks.”

Acting North West Regional Health Authority CEO Salisha Baksh said over 1,000 people had used WhatsApp to try to make appointments for vaccinations since the RHA introduced the service last week. Additional human resource capacity had been added to the RHA’s hotlines so that people could be contacted, she said.

She said 191 people were vaccinated at the Morvant Health Centre between last Wednesday and Friday.

The Carenage Health Centre will become a vaccination site beginning on Tuesday.

Baksh said so far 5,600 appointments have been scheduled for covid19 vaccines. She too encouraged people who were eligible to get the vaccine.

Abdool-Richards said studies showed that if someone gets the AstraZeneca vaccine from one manufacturer, their second dose could come from another manufacturer, as the vaccines were inter-operable. She said at this time, the Health Ministry would continue a two-dose vaccine programme, as recommended by the WHO.