Investigations into 12 of the 28 deaths that occurred after people received a COVID-19 vaccine have concluded their deaths were coincidental to the inoculation, with the other results still pending, the Department of Disease Control reported on Wednesday.
Dr Chawetsan Namwat, director for emergency health hazards and diseases, said experts found that COVID-19 vaccines had nothing to do with 12 of the deaths. They were defined as coincidental events.
Determining the exact cause of death in each case was a time-consuming process and took into account the patients’ medical treatment records, autopsy reports and results of laboratory tests, he said.
Of the 12 cases, 8 suffered acute coronary syndrome (sudden, reduced blood flow to the heart), one had Immune Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (a blood disease), one a pulmonary embolism (lung blood clot), one purulent meningitis and one an intraabdominal aneurysm.
“The deaths were from severe undesirable symptoms and were not a result of receiving the vaccine. People can rest assured that the vaccines are safe,” Dr Namwat said.
Undesirable symptoms or side effects could be the body’s reaction to foreign substances, and vaccines were foreign substances, he said.
Dr Namwat said most people with a chronic illness whose condition was stable could receive COVID-19 vaccines.
Investigations into the 16 other fatalities were still incomplete, Dr Namwat said.
