KUALA LUMPUR, March 16 — The National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) today said that there are six adverse events following immunisation (AEFI) cases involving children aged between five to 11-years-old that are currently under investigations.
“Of the six cases of adverse events, there were five cases that needed to be admitted in hospital or treatment and further observation, whereby all of them had been discharged while two of the cases had been fully recovered and the remaining three cases still needing further medical attention.
“And there is one case of BID where further investigation is still underway and it was reported that the patient has comorbidity,” NPRA director Dr Roshayati Mohamad Sani said during a press conference conducted virtually today.
Dr Roshayati said that whether the case is related to the Covid-19 vaccine will be determined once NPRA receives the full report.
NPRA said that the six cases consisted of adverse events such as bell palsy (three cases), asthma and seizure (one each).
On the BID case, NPRA said that the patient was inoculated four days before her death and had underlying conditions, adding that the parents said that there were no side effects a day after the seven-year-old female had received her Covid-19 vaccine.
“On the first day that this seven-year-old female received her vaccine, the parents mentioned that there was no (alarming) reaction at the time meaning she was well and she did not have any fever or complaints of other effects.
“And then on the day that she was not well, that was when she had symptoms and the symptoms were more related to the underlying conditions. And she also had several admissions due to the underlying conditions prior to that episode,” she said.
Two days ago, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin announced that the ministry is targeting to have 50 per cent of children in Malaysia aged five to 11 to be vaccinated against Covid-19 through the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme for Children (PICKids) before the school session begins next week.
Last month, it was reported that eight adverse events following immunisation (AEFI) reports were received since the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme for Children (PICKids) began on February 3, with all cases experiencing mild side effects including swelling at the injection site after receiving the vaccine.
