Singapore — According to the Ministry of Health, the 64-year-old woman who passed away on the same day she received her first Covid-19 vaccination shot died of hypertensive heart disease and coronary artery disease.
A July 31 Facebook post of a woman named Charlene Yong was widely shared last week, wherein she wrote that her mother had collapsed unexpectedly around eight hours after receiving her first Covid jab.
Ms Yong had written in the post that according to the coroner’s report, “hypertensive and coronary artery disease” were listed as responsible for her mother’s death, but she and her family had questions about their mother’s passing and wanted closure as well as a “better” understanding of “the true cause of death”
TODAY reported on Sunday (Aug 8) that MOH had responded to inquiries concerning the matter, saying it had been informed of Ms Yong’s mother’s death by Ng Teng Fong General Hospital, where she had received emergency medical treatment earlier that day, on July 25, which was when she received her first Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty shot.
MOH is quoted as saying, “She was assessed by trained healthcare personnel to be suitable for Covid-19 vaccination prior to vaccination, observed on-site for about 30 minutes post-vaccination and was well.”
As for the cause of death, the ministry wrote, “Based on the autopsy findings, the certified cause of death is hypertensive heart disease and coronary artery disease. This is consistent with the patient’s history of heart disease, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension.”
MOH further noted that the number of heart attacks, which are caused by coronary artery disease, have not increased after people received their vaccination shots, according to data from Singapore as well as other countries.
“We see about 1,000 strokes and heart attacks every month, handled by our public hospitals, and as we vaccinate in large numbers, coincidental strokes and heart attacks after vaccination will occur,” added MOH.
Ms Yong had written that her mother lived an “active life and is mostly healthy except for controlled hypertension and mild diabetes.”
Her mother’s unexpected death led Ms Yong, who said that she “used to be an advocate to the COVID-19 vaccination” to question the vaccine’s safety.
“What could have happened during the course of the vaccination that robbed her of her life?
Or was it just pure coincidence that she has to return to Jesus on the day where she received her first dose of vaccination?”
She also wrote in her post that her family had to “plough so hard with the authorities to have the coroner report to be released to us?”
From the Facebook page of Charlene Yong
TODAY noted that MOH extended its condolences to Ms Yong and her family and added it will help the family as much as it can via the public healthcare system.
TISG has reached out to the Ministry of Health (MOH) and to Ms Yong for comment and clarification. /TISG