In this Feb 02, 2021 photo, a health worker holds a vial with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine against the novel coronavirus at the vaccination center in Freising, southern Germany. (CHRISTOF STACHE / AFP)
HONG KONG – Two scientific committees of the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) on Thursday said there was no evidence that the COVID-19 vaccine of Fosun Pharma/BioNTech led to deaths among elderly persons.
In a statement issued on Thursday night, the government said the CHP's Joint Scientific Committee on Vaccine Preventable Diseases and the Scientific Committee on Emerging and Zoonotic Diseases, together with the Expert Advisory Panel to the Chief Executive, reviewed the data on the vaccine BNT162b2 after reports of deaths among the elderly in some European countries.
The Joint Scientific Committee on Vaccine Preventable Diseases and the Scientific Committee on Emerging and Zoonotic Diseases reviewed the data on the vaccine BNT162b2 after reports of deaths among the elderly in Europe
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“Based on the available information and recommendations from overseas jurisdictions and the World Health Organization as of January 2021, the (committees) considered that there is currently no evidence suggestive of any unexpected or untoward increase in mortality in frail elderly following the use of BNT162b2,” the statement reads.
“There is also no clear evidence suggesting the reported deaths were due to the use of BNT162b2,” it added.
For severely frail elderly persons, like those bedridden in residential care homes and those aged 85 and above, the benefits and risks of receiving the vaccine should be evaluated by attending physician and “such clinical assessment should be exercised with greater caution,” according to the statement.
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Under the committees’ interim recommendation last month, any individual who is experiencing acute febrile diseases should delay their vaccination and “this recommendation applies to the use of BNT162b2 among frail elderly,” it added.
The committees also said that reports and data regarding the safety and efficacy of BNT162b2 should be closely monitored and the benefit-risk balance should be re-evaluated as more information about possible effects of mass vaccination programs continue to emerge.
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