The first individual in Taiwan reported to have died after receiving the domestically developed Medigen COVID-19 vaccine died of an aortic dissection combined with cardiac tamponade, according to autopsy results.
The 56-year-old man, a Malaysian-born columnist and poet surnamed Lu (?), received the Medigen vaccine in Taoyuan on Monday, the first day the native vaccine was administered in Taiwan.
He fell unconscious the next morning and was later pronounced dead at the hospital, becoming the first of four individuals to have died after receiving the Medigen vaccine to date.
In a press briefing on Thursday, Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) spokesman Chuang Jen-hsiang (???) said the autopsy on Lu has been completed and the results indicate that aortic dissection combined with cardiac tamponade were the causes of his death.
Aortic dissection is defined as a separation of the layers of the aortic wall by an inciting intimal injury, while cardiac tamponade happens when extra fluid builds up in the space around the heart, preventing it from pumping properly.
Chuang added that the other three fatalities have not been autopsied yet as the government is still waiting for their relatives’ to agree.
Meanwhile, Health Minister and CECC chief Chen Shih-chung (???) stressed that the CECC has to wait for the final autopsy reports to determine whether the vaccine led directly to the death of the four, as there is currently no indication of a causal relationship.
He also revealed that the vaccine doses administered to the four individuals belonged to different production batches.
Other than the four deaths, two other recipients of the Medigen vaccine have experienced life-threatening adverse reactions, while another 21 had non-serious reactions over the past four days, according to CECC data.
Chen stressed that the negative news did not significantly affect public willingness to receive the locally developed vaccine, citing a 92.8 percent turnout on Monday versus 90.2 percent the next day.
The native vaccine, developed and produced by Taiwan-based Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp., has been controversial because it was granted emergency use authorization (EUA) in July based only on the antibodies it generated, without starting Phase 3 clinical trials.
The vaccine only completed an enlarged Phase 2/3 trial of under 4,000 participants in Taiwan that did not generate any data on its efficacy at protecting people against COVID-19.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel