National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency director Dr Roshayati Mohamad Sani speaks at a press conference on Covid-19 at the Health Ministry in Putrajaya, February 17, 2022. — Bernama pic
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 17 — The Ministry of Health (MOH) clarified again today that it has not found any causality or link between reports of adverse effects suffered following immunisation (AEFIs) after receiving booster doses and subsequent deaths among recipients.
National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency director Dr Roshayati Mohamad Sani said that the MOH’s pharmacovigilance committee (JFK) was reviewing the 42 reports of death among the over 13 million booster dose recipients in the country.
“Among the 42 cases, 22 have been evaluated to have no links with AEFIs while 20 other cases are still being reviewed,” he told a press conference.
Yesterday, NPRA said it received 42 reports of deaths among the 13,000,984 booster dose recipients, of which 14 cases were given heterologous (mixed) vaccines.
Dr Roshayati in her statement yesterday said the Sinovac, Pfizer, and AstraZeneca vaccines had recorded a mortality rate of 4.2, 3.4, and 1.4 deaths per million doses, respectively.
She said the NPRA had also received 80 reports of serious adverse effects after receiving booster shots, equivalent to six reports for every one million doses.
According to Dr Roshayati, JFK comprised health experts just as neurologists, forensics from both MOH and universities.
Minister of Health Khairy Jamaluddin added that they are also willing to include JFK members from the private sector to ensure that the result could be viewed and accepted by more parties.
“However, only medical experts are considered to join the committee (JFK). This is a medical issue, not religious,” he said.
Khairy also said the government has no plans to roll out the fourth dose of the Covid-19 vaccines for now.
“Currently, we do not have any such plans. We want to focus on the boosters,” he said.