First case of death from ‘adverse effects’ of Covid-19 jab recorded in Ireland, CSO claims

This death occurred in the 75-84 age group, according to the last-quarter report on births, marriages and deaths from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

It compiles its statistics based on information cited in death certificates signed off by doctors.

Asked to respond, a spokeswoman for Ireland’s medicines watchdog, the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA), said it did not comment on individual cases.

However, she pointed out more than eight million doses of Covid-19 vaccines had been administered in Ireland to date.

“It can be expected that fatalities due to progression of underlying disease or natural causes can occur – however, this did not mean that the vaccine caused the death,” she said. “In most cases, progression of multiple pre-existing diseases is a plausible explanation.

“All reports notified to the HPRA describing a fatality are carefully reviewed.”

According to its safety update, as of May 10 a total of 113 reports describing an individual who was known to have been vaccinated and subsequently died have been notified through the suspected adverse reaction reporting system.

“The majority of those reports involve individuals aged over 75 years and describe fatalities often seen in the general population, such as those due to natural causes and the progression of underlying disease,” the spokeswoman said.

She added that through the European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) safety committee, of which the HPRA is a member, the safety of Covid-19 vaccines was monitored extremely carefully. “As a general principle, conclusions on the safety of a vaccine cannot be drawn based on information from an individual case alone,” she said.

“The totality of data from all sources – for example, clinical and epidemiological studies and literature – is considered to ensure evidenced based conclusions are reached.

“In their most recent safety updates, the EMA and HPRA have confirmed the benefits of all currently authorised Covid-19 vaccines outweigh their side-effects, given well-established benefits of vaccination in preventing Covid-19 illness and related complications, including death and hospitalisation.”

Meanwhile, a second child who developed severe hepatitis here has needed a liver transplant and another two cases of the monkeypox virus have been confirmed here, bringing the number infected to six so far.

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) confirmed the two additional cases yesterday. The first was diagnosed over the weekend. It is unclear if the cases are linked.

The watchdog said for each case, public health doctors followed up those who had close contact with the case. In order to maintain patient confidentiality, no further information about the cases will be provided.

Public health risk assessments have been undertaken, and those in contact with the cases are being advised on what to do in the event they become ill.

It is normally a mild illness but people who are infected must isolate for three weeks.

The European Centre for Disease Control said, that as of May 21, 321 confirmed monkeypox cases had been reported from 12 EU/EEA countries and 236 confirmed cases had been reported in seven non-EU/EEA countries.

In total, 557 confirmed cases had been reported worldwide from countries where the disease is not considered to be endemic.