The government’s Novel Coronavirus Response and Coordination Centre yesterday announced Macau’s first case of a “serious” adverse event following a COVID-19 vaccination – a 67-year-old man who was hospitalised yesterday after being diagnosed with acute coronary syndrome (ACS).
A statement by the centre said that the man had his first BioNTech mRNA jab at the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre on Friday after passing an assessment of his state of health by a medical worker, who concluded that the man did not have any contraindications to being vaccinated against COVID-19.
According to the statement, the man came down with pain on the left side of his chest on Tuesday but the symptom ceased after a rest. However, again he suffered from the same symptom yesterday which even intensified so he sought treatment at the public hospital’s emergency department, the statement said.
An electrocardiogram showed that the man suffered myocardial ischaemia because of which he was diagnosed with acute coronary syndrome, the statement said.
The patient’s condition remained stable at the time of last night’s statement, which said that he will undergo a cardiac catheterisation today.
The statement said that the man’s case has been transferred to the Health Bureau’s (SSM) working group assessing adverse events after COVID-19 vaccinations, which will have a meeting today to assess the case.
The government’s COVID-19 vaccination drive started on February 9 with Sinopharm inactivated jabs covering those in priority groups such as those working on the frontline against COVID-19 and those working in occupations that are subject to a high COVID-19 risk. Inoculations for all local residents started on February 22. The government’s inoculations with BioNTech vaccines started on Wednesday last week.
The government’s COVID-19 inoculations for non-resident workers started yesterday with Sinopharm jabs, while their inoculations with BioNTech shots will start on Sunday.
Macau’s COVID-19 vaccinations are currently carried out at two inoculation facilities at the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre, eight public health centres and two public health stations. The government’s 12 COVID-19 vaccination facilities run from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, where 5,000 places for COVID-19 vaccinations are available per day, 1000 of which are allocated to non-resident workers.
Yesterday’s statement pointed out that all cases of illness or death that occur after vaccination are defined by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as “adverse events after vaccinations”. The occurrence of adverse events after vaccinations does not necessarily mean that the events have been caused by the vaccines per se, the statement underlined.
4 kinds of adverse events
The statement pointed out that adverse events after vaccinations comprise four kinds, namely 1) vaccine reactions – i.e. reactions caused by vaccines (such as redness, swelling, heat and pain after vaccinations, as well as allergic reactions), 2) reactions related to immunisation carried out the wrong way – i.e. reactions caused by errors in the vaccines’ production process or injection process, 3) reactions related to vaccination anxiety, and 4) coincidental events – i.e. diseases that happen to occur after vaccinations but that would have also occurred even though the vaccinations had not been carried out.
The statement underlined that the Health Bureau has set up a special working group to assess adverse events after COVID-19 vaccinations, which is composed of representatives from various medical fields. In case a serious adverse event following COVID-19 vaccination is reported, the working group will assess the case and verify whether there is a causal relationship between the vaccination and the adverse event, the statement said.
Meanwhile, the centre said in a separate statement yesterday that since the launch of the government’s COVID-19 vaccination drive, as of 4 p.m. yesterday a total of 55,552 had made an appointment to be inoculated against the novel coronavirus, 24,040 of whom have had their first jab. Since the launch of the vaccination drive last month, 34 cases of “minor” adverse events have been reported, the statement said.
Macau’s population at the end of last year stood at 683,100, according to the latest demographic figures from the Statistics and Census Bureau (DSEC).
Residents, including senior citizens, wait for COVID-19 inoculations at the public Conde de São Januário Hospital Centre early this month. Photo: GCS
