The recorded deaths among those vaccinated against Covid-19 were not because of the vaccines, the Department of Health (DOH) said on Friday, Sept. 2.
“Lahat po ng nirereport natin na fatal outcomes dito po sa ating (All the fatal outcomes we report here on our) website does not necessarily mean that the vaccines caused the deaths of these individuals,” said DOH Officer-in-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire during a press briefing.
Vergeire reminded the public to be careful in interpreting data.
“Unang-una, kailangang maging mapanuri ang ating mga kababayan. Kung tumitingin tayo ng datos kailangan iniintindi po natin yung nakalagay sa datos (First of all, our citizens must be careful. If we look at data, we must understand what is written in the data),” she said.
She noted that it was stated on the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) website that these deaths will still be assessed if they were “causally related to the vaccine.”
“Ibig sabihin, hindi po lahat ng namamatay dahil sa pagkakabakuna ay dahil dito sa Covid-19 vaccine, not all of these are causally related sa pagbabakuna natin (This means that not all deaths reported were because of the Covid-19 vaccine. Not all of these are causally related to the vaccination program),” said Vergeire.
Based on the FDA’s report, a total of 2,620 “fatal events” were logged among those who received the Covid-19 vaccine.
The agency noted that "most of these events occurred in persons with multiple existing comorbidities. These include cardiovascular diseases, ischemic heart diseases, cerebrovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, and infections including pneumonia. There were cases of confirmed COVID-19 infections leading to severe cases with fatal outcomes."
“Reports of fatal outcome does not necessarily mean that the vaccine caused the events,” said the FDA.
“Underlying conditions or pre-existing medical conditions causing fatal events are usually coincidental on the use of the vaccine,” it added.
The DOH made this clarification after the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO), in a press briefing on Friday, claimed that close to 3,000 people died after they were vaccinated against Covid-19.