PUTRAJAYA, Nov 26 — The Ministry of Health (MOH) will always be transparent and inform the public if there are deaths due to the COVID-19 vaccine or booster dose, said its Minister, Khairy Jamaluddin.
He said that thus far, no deaths had been directly linked to the vaccine, with the confirmation by three committees.
The committees are the COVID-19 Vaccine Special Pharmacovigilance Committee; the Special Financial Assistance Steering Committee for COVID-19 Vaccine Exigencies and the Medical Technical Committee.
He said that the sharing of the post-mortem report on the death of the senior principal assistant director at MOH headquarters, Dr Chai Koh Meow, showed that the ministry did not hide any information from the public.
Khairy said this at a press conference on the development of COVID-19, which was also attended by Health director-general, Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, and Health deputy director-general (Research and Technical Support), Datuk Dr Hishamshah Mohd Ibrahim.
Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham said that the MOH had obtained permission from the family of the late Dr Chai to share the findings of the autopsy report.
“The autopsy result stated that the cause of Dr Chai’s death was hemopericardium due to coronary heart disease and myocardial infarction,” he said.
Dr Chai passed away on Nov 17, and his death was speculated to have been linked to a booster dose he received on Nov 9.