The Ministry of Health is investigating the deaths of two people who had been vaccinated against COVID-19, Chief Medical Officer Dr Kenneth George has revealed.
It was not immediately clear how long after the vaccinations the deaths occurred, whether the individuals had contracted COVID-19 in what is considered a breakthrough infection, or whether a cause of death had been determined by autopsy. No details on the age, gender or date of death of the two were made available.
“What I will tell you is that we are investigating one or two deaths,” Dr George told the second in a series of town hall meeting on vaccines and testing at the Princess Margaret School.
“It is a process that is going on. We have to gather the evidence…. There is a process we have to follow that involves multiple steps and it is only after we go through that rigorous process can we make the link. It’s about adding extra points…towards making what is called an association.”
Health officials were responding to several questions about employees’ rights, mandatory vaccinations, the efficacy of the AstraZeneca vaccine, as well as the validity of the PCR test.
But as the topic turned to adverse reactions to the jab, health authorities clashed with an activist over official numbers of those who have been sickened by the vaccine.
Senior Medical Officer of Health Dr Arthur Phillips disclosed that out of the over 180 000 doses administered in Barbados to date, 442 adverse reactions were reported. Of those, three were seen as being “moderate to severe and potentially being connected to the vaccine”, he added.
Valerie-Suzette Jean-Marie, founder of the Barbados Independent Complaints Register questioned the accuracy of the Ministry’s numbers, although she did not present any data.
She claimed that her figures were “slightly different” and argued that “many people are actually afraid to speak” to the authorities.
But Dr Phillips said: “In the relatively short space of time, more COVID vaccine has been administered than any other vaccine in the history of the world…. So over a billion doses – 1.2 plus billion doses of this vaccine – [have] been administered, so we have a lot of information about what happens when people get this vaccine.
“We have information about safety and we have information about how the vaccine works and what we know is that being vaccinated reduces the risks of infection, severity of disease, the need for special medical intervention (intensive care), death [and] transmission of disease.”
Dr George made clear that it was not his Ministry’s intention to hide any information from the public.
The Chief Medical Officer, who is also a member of the Adverse Events Following Immunization Committee which is tasked with analyzing and documenting cases of local adverse effects to the vaccine, stressed that all of the information on adverse reactions have been put in the public domain.
He said: “These cases come from multiple sources. It can be self-reporting, it can be through the private sector which has also added to that number, it can be through our public health system, but there is a website you can go to and the public is asked to do this. It has been published in the paper, where persons can go to that website and document any reaction.
“We want the public to not only come for what they describe as major disease. If you want to report that you had swelling in your arm, we take that seriously. If you want to report that you had a fever, nausea or feeling unwell after the vaccine.
“What I will tell you is many of the minor symptoms that occur with respect to vaccinations are occurring because your immune system is being primed. So that you reach a stage where you feel unwell for a day or two because what is happening is that your immune system is spilling out antibodies.”
So far, 48 Barbadians have died from 4 496 cases of COVID-19.
As of Wednesday, about 30.3 per cent of the population, or 82 088 people had been given second doses of the jab and are fully vaccinated. The first dose of the vaccine has been administered to 100 698 people.
Acting Prime Minister Santia Bradshaw joined acting Attorney General Wilfred Abrahams, president of the Barbados Association of Medical Practitioners (BAMP), Dr Lynda Williams, Minister of Labour Colin Jordan and members of the labour movement and the private sector at Wednesday’s town hall meeting. (KC)
