;

Singapore — After a 13-year-old boy in the US died three days upon receiving his second Covid-19 vaccination shot, a group of doctors in Singapore asked for a “short delay” on Saturday (June 26) in administering the injections to adolescent males pending investigations into the matter.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) responded on Sunday (June 27) saying that the Expert Committee on COVID-19 Vaccination (EC19V) is aware of the open letter from the doctors, which was posted on social media, but underlined that the benefits of getting the shots “continue to outweigh the risks of vaccination.”

The letter, written “on behalf of many concerned paediatricians, primary care physicians, specialists, surgeons and GPs,” spearheaded by Dr Wong Wui Min, a Cardiologist and Heart Specialist Dr Kho Kwang Po at W M Wong Cardiac and Medical Clinic in Gleneagles Hospital, was addressed to Professor Benjamin Ong, the Chairman of the Expert Committee, with the Minister of Health copy furnished.

The “urgent open letter” has been shared on Facebook almost 400 times.

The physicians highlighted that the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is investigating the death from heart failure after vaccination with an mRNA vaccine of a 13-year-old boy which was reported to authorities on June 17.

“While the CDC is initiating the investigation of a possible vaccine-related death of an adolescent male, can we possibly consider a short delay?

Let us give CDC and other organizations (worldwide) a few weeks to produce robust and convincing data. This is very important as our mRNA programme for boys is massive (at least 200,000, one of the most aggressive programmes in the world),” the doctors wrote.

They also highlighted the incidence of myocarditis among young males who had been jabbed with mRNA vaccines in the US.

“Can we give CDC/others more time to investigate and provide us high-quality data on the possibly fatal effects of mRNA vaccines in youths?” the doctors asked again, adding. “Certainly, we do not want to see any more suspected vaccine-related deaths in any young persons at the prime of their life?”

The other signatories of the open letter are Dr AM Chia, Dr LW Ping, and Dr IW Yang.

A petition has also been started to call for the suspension of vaccinations for people under 30, especially those aged 12 to 15.

In an update to its report on the 13-year-old’s death, the CDC added that “it may be several months until a cause of death is determined due to toxicology results.”

In its response, the MOH noted that “no cause of death has been made public and the case is currently under investigation by the US authorities.”

It assured the public that “The Expert Committee had on 11 June 2021 highlighted the possibility of a small risk of myocarditis and pericarditis associated with the second dose of the mRNA vaccines, and the assessment after our review is that the benefits of receiving the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines continue to outweigh the risks of vaccination. Data on myocarditis and pericarditis has not changed since, and the Expert Committee’s assessment remains the same.”

MOH added that data indicates that the occurrence of myocarditis after mRNA vaccinations is rare and that nearly all the cases had been resolved with minimal medical intervention.

“Professional medical associations in the US, including the American College of Paediatrics and the American Heart Association in the US have continued to strongly encourage vaccination in everyone aged 12 years and older,” said the Ministry, adding that it recommends that “vaccinated persons, in particular adolescents and younger men, should avoid strenuous physical activity for one week after their second dose.”

And should any young men develop chest pain, shortness of breath or abnormal heartbeats after the jab, they should see a doctor at once. /TISG

Read also: SG has advance orders for a “better” vaccine than Pfizer & Moderna

Authorities express concern over ‘hidden’ Covid-19 community cases