Man Dies Two Days After Covid-19 Vaccination

Health authorities on Tuesday reported the death of a 63-year-old man two days after receiving the Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine at a government vaccination centre in Jordan, though they stressed it’s too early to tell whether the jab was related to his death.

The Department of Health said in a brief statement released on Tuesday evening that the patient was vaccinated at Kwun Chung Sports Centre on Friday last week – the first day of Hong Kong’s citywide vaccination programme.

It said he then developed acute breathing difficulties on Sunday, before he went on his own initiative to Queen Elizabeth Hospital, where he died later that day.

The department said it was informed of the incident on Tuesday evening, but did not explain the delay.

A spokesman said officials immediately contacted the Hospital Authority to seek more information as part of their investigation into the matter.

But he stressed that it was too early to say whether the vaccination was related to the patient’s death in any way.

It said a panel of experts on Covid will look into the matter and announce their findings at a suitable time.

Health officials told a late night news conference on Tuesday that they were concerned by the incident, but stressed that vaccines' advantages outweighed the disadvantages.

Earlier, authorities had said they were looking into a separate case involving a 72-year-old man who developed heart palpitations on Saturday within half an hour of receiving a Covid jab.

Tens of thousands of people have already been inoculated with the mainland-produced Sinovac vaccine, with authorities scheduled to accept bookings for the German-produced BioNTech jab on Wednesday.

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