A 56-year-old man has died a day after getting the locally made Medigen COVID-19 vaccine, the first death reported in Taiwan of a recipient of that vaccine, with initial indications that he died of a heart attack.
The deceased, a Taoyuan citizen identified as a man surnamed Lu (?), was vaccinated on Monday morning on the first day the Medigen Vaccine Biologics vaccine was administered in Taiwan and fell unconscious on Tuesday morning.
He was found without vital signs when paramedics arrived at his residence, and was later pronounced dead at the hospital, according to Taoyuan City’s Fire Department.
Confirming the news, Health Minister and Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) head Chen Shih-chung (???) said initial indications are that the man, who had a history of chronic disease, died of a heart attack.
But he said an autopsy still has to be performed to determine the actual cause of death.
Even so, the death will be listed as a possible adverse event related to the Medigen vaccine based on the CECC’s adverse event reporting system.
In a statement issued later Tuesday, Medigen had little to say, other than it was closely monitoring the case and waiting for official determination of the cause of death.
According to Chen, a total of 167,268 people, or around 90 percent of the 187,000 who made an appointment, got the vaccine on Monday.
As of Monday, the CECC had reported a total of 653 post-vaccination deaths from 10.25 million vaccine doses administered in Taiwan to date, with 416 of them involving people over the age of 75.
Among the deaths, 536 received the AstraZeneca brand of vaccine while the rest received the Moderna vaccine.
A total of 145 autopsies of the 653 deceased have been completed so far, with 139 indicating no direct link to the COVID-19 vaccine and six cases still undetermined, according to CECC.
Among the 145 autopsies performed, 91 of the deceased died of chronic illnesses, it said.
Currently, about 40 percent of Taiwan’s population of 23.5 million people have gotten a first vaccine shot, and less than 3 percent have received the two shots needed to be fully vaccinated.
Among the 10.25 million vaccine doses administrated so far, 6.41 million were the AZ brand, 3.66 million were the Moderna brand, and 167,268 recipients received the Medigen brand.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel