SINGAPORE —  There have not been any deaths found to be directly linked to Covid-19 vaccination so far, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said on Saturday (Sept 4). It also pointed out that it is not in the interest of the ministry or the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) to hide such deaths or other reports of side effects.

The ministry said this in response to a Facebook post asking the authorities to explain a "sudden spike" in deaths here.

In a post on Sept 2, Facebook user Iris Koh stated that she knows of three deaths that occurred after vaccination and had heard stories from people who also know of others “who coincidentally passed away after taking the vaccine”.

The user claimed that data taken from the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority showed a rise in deaths after vaccinations began in Singapore. 

She then urged the authorities to explain why there has been a “sudden spike in death numbers” and why there are “officially zero deaths due to the vaccine in Singapore”. 

In its response, MOH said that to date, there have not been any deaths found to be directly linked to Covid-19 vaccines. 

“There have been deaths that were due to concurrent medical conditions unrelated to vaccination,” the ministry added. 

It explained that whenever an adverse event arises after an individual is vaccinated, it carefully “evaluates the circumstances” and “defers to expert opinion” whether the adverse event is plausibly linked to vaccination or not.

MOH added that if a death occurs, the ministry will also defer to the coroner who adjudicates and determines what the cause of death is, with the benefit of post-mortem findings. 

“It is not in MOH nor the HSA’s interest to hide adverse events. As a responsible healthcare regulatory authority, it is imperative to assess whether all reported adverse events or deaths are linked to vaccination, since the vaccines are still only provisionally approved by HSA,” the ministry said.