The “safe and effective” Pfizer-BioNTech COVID shot has been connected to numerous reports of adverse reactions and deaths in adolescents in Vietnam. Meanwhile, in the United States, the Biden administration and top health officials are urging that parents have the shot given to their children asap.
According to a TrialSite News report, health regulators in Vietnam’s south-eastern provinces of Hanoi and Thanh Hoa have stopped the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine after more than 120 children were hospitalized and four died following a school-wide vaccination.
Hanoi
Following the death of a ninth-grade girl in Hanoi’s Thuong Tin District after getting her first dose of the Pfizer vaccine (used exclusively for that age group), local health officials halted vaccination of children and adolescents from two batches. The ninth grader was the second confirmed teenage casualty of the jab,
The girl died of Grade IV anaphylaxis only one day after being inoculated in November, according to the Post-Vaccination Events Expert Panel, cited by TrialSite. Mayo Clinic defines that condition as a severe, potentially life-threatening allergic reaction that causes the immune system to release a flood of chemicals that can cause you to go into shock — blood pressure drops suddenly and the airways narrow, blocking breathing. Grade IV is the most severe form of the condition.
The first alleged victim of the shot was a 16-year-old boy who died four days after being vaccinated. The cause of death was recorded as anaphylactic shock, which, like anaphylaxis, refers to a severe allergic reaction. “Shock is when your blood pressure drops so low that your cells (and organs) don’t get enough oxygen. Anaphylactic shock is shock that’s caused by anaphylaxis,” per WebMD.
Three more students from the same province and inoculated on the same day have also developed anaphylaxis and were hospitalized. Reportedly, the students developed anaphylaxis symptoms after 15-30 minutes of injection, and experienced dizziness, shortness of breath, chest pain, nausea, pale skin, slow heart rate, and low blood oxygen levels.
Facing a parents’ pushback against the vaccination campaign, the health department halted vaccinations from two batches of Pfizer’s Comirnaty whose expiration date had been extended. Talking to the press on December 1, Director of the Hanoi Department of Health Tran Thi Nhi Ha said that the Hanoi Department of Health “received many comments from parents about their concerns when giving their children vaccination” against COVID. The shots from all of the other batches continued to be administered.
The officials stressed it was important to continue getting needles in teens’ arms “in the face of the current complicated epidemic situation.”
But the chain of deaths did not stop with those two cases.
A 12-year-old boy died within a day after receiving his first shot. According to the local outlet, “After having dinner, he started suffering from dizziness, abdominal pain, and defecation. His family took him to a local hospital before he was transferred to the General Hospital of Binh Phuoc and then [another] hospital but the boy could not make it and died […].”
The report adds that the Health Ministry has said the cause of the three known deaths was “overreaction to the vaccine,” and not linked to the quality of the vaccine or the vaccination process.
The fourth known death linked to the vaccine occurred on December 4, when a 15-year-old boy died two days after receiving a shot.
Thanh Hoa
The province has started inoculating children aged 15-17 with the Pfizer vaccine on November 30, but the authorities halted their use on December 2 when over 120 adolescents were hospitalized with adverse reactions to vaccines, such as nausea, high fever, and breathing difficulties.
In response to the alarming situation, Thanh Hoa CDC director Luong Ngoc Truong said the province has stopped using the current vaccine batch. “We still have other batches, also Pfizer vaccines, so we will continue vaccinating the children,” he added, according to the local media VNExpress.
The suspended batch would be placed into storage and could be used later for other groups such as adults, who are believed to be less likely to develop severe reactions to vaccines.
A local resident who wished to remain anonymous told TrialSite that the vaccination of children has been paused, but there have been no formal government announcements that the vaccination program for children will be terminated.
Parents Rejecting Jabs for Kids
Following the news of deaths and hospitalizations of otherwise healthy teenagers, many of the parents, naturally, are not feeling excited about vaccinating their kids.
“After considering the pros and cons, I decided that my son needed a vaccination because of the sharp increase in the number of new infections in Hanoi and the appearance of a new coronavirus variant,” Hong Le, a local mother, told VietNamNet.
Following the news of deaths and hospitalizations of otherwise healthy teenagers, many of the parents, naturally, are not feeling excited about vaccinating their kids.
But she changed her mind when receiving a notice from her son’s teacher about the suspension of immunization for his age group and learning about the expired batches of Pfizer.
“We felt anxious when reading news about the deaths after vaccinations. We need to listen to the news before making a decision,” said Manh Hung, a neighbor of Le.
The outlet stresses that it up to parents to decide if they want their children to get vaccinated.
As of December 10, the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) had 8,515 cases of anaphylaxis possibly associated with COVID vaccines in the United States.
