23 Post-Vaccination Deaths in Jamaica Now

Eleven deemed not to have been caused by the vaccine.

Out of roughly 852,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines administered in Jamaica as of Oct. 12, there have been 23 deaths recorded, according to a report from the Ministry of Health & Wellness on events supposedly attributable to vaccination or immunization (ESAVI).

The ESAVI report states that “causality investigations are underway” and that after reviewing the cases of eleven persons who died, “the vaccine did not cause or in any way contribute to their death.”

The report was obtained under the Access to Information Act (ATI) after vlogger Nickoy Mills on Twitter flagged the new numbers. Though the information is as of a month ago on Oct. 12, the health ministry’s ATI office told 18º North that this is the latest report.

Key Findings

• The report shows that there were 18 ESAVIs received during the week of Oct. 6 to 12, and the complaints were split almost evenly between the AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines. 15 of the reports were related to females and three (3 ) were related to males.

• Since the administration of the vaccines began on March 10, there have been a total of 524 ESAVIs received with the most common side effects being dizziness, headache and pain at the injection site.

• Of the 524 ESAVIs, a total of 84 events were considered serious. Serious events are those that result in hospitalization or death, are medically-significant or life-threatening, or result in a persistent or significant disability.

• Though the symptoms of all 84 serious events were not described, for the first time that 18º North has seen, there was a sampling of ailments of what appears to be more serious conditions: nine (9) cases of thrombosis, which are clots that prevent blood from flowing normally through the circulatory system; four (4) cases of anaphylactic reactions, which are severe, potentially life-threatening allergic reactions; and three (3) cases of Bell’s palsy, which is facial muscle weakness or paralysis. All occurred after taking the AstraZeneca.

  

  Bell’s palsy. Photo By Andrea Kamphuis - Own work

• There was one (1) case of myocarditis/pericarditis after taking the Pfizer. Myocarditis is inflammation of the heart muscle while pericarditis is inflammation of the lining around the heart. It’s not known the age of the person that experienced this event in Jamaica, but young males are generally more susceptible to myocarditis, according to a recent study out of Israel that showed that nearly 11 of every 100,000 males (1 in every 9,091) in the 16-29 age group developed the condition a few days after having been fully vaccinated. However, the overall incidence was just over two cases per 100,000 people across all age groups and sexes.

• The conditions of myocarditis/pericarditis, anaphylactic reactions, thrombosis and Bell’s palsy were listed under a table called Adverse Events of Special Interest (AESI), which are side effects that the WHO has advised countries to look out for and keep track of before and after Covid-19 vaccination. For the AESIs in this report to be meaningful, these incidents would have to be compared against data showing how typical these conditions have been in the population to be able to assess whether they are occurring at a higher rate than normal. 18º North has requested the background rates of these conditions from the health ministry.

• Twenty (20) cases have been fully reviewed and classified and closed. Four (4) were found to be vaccine-product related reactions, although the nature of these four was not specified. One (1) was an immunization anxiety-related reaction. Thirteen (13) were coincidental, meaning they were not caused by the vaccine. Two (2) were indeterminate with a temporal relationship, meaning “while they occurred after the persons were vaccinated, there is no established link to their vaccination.” In its causality assessment manual, the WHO says indeterminate temporal cases may be new vaccine-linked events. “This is a potential signal and needs to be considered for further investigation.”

• 90% of the 84 reports of serious cases occurred after taking the AstraZeneca while the drug represented 71% of all doses administered as of Oct. 12. Ten percent (10%) were reported after taking the Pfizer when that brand represented 25% of all doses. There were no serious adverse events after taking the Johnson & Johnson. However, that brand represented only 4% of all doses administered at that time.

• Overall, there was one report of a serious adverse event received for every 10,000 doses of vaccine approximately, across all brands. However, some experts consulted by 18º North caution that these ratios shouldn’t be relied upon to derive side effect rates as different factors can influence reporting, the cause of each serious event has not been determined to be the vaccine in the vast majority of cases, plus we don’t know the age profile of persons who experienced the serious events. Older adults are naturally more pre-disposed to other illnesses and death.

• 18º North has since requested to know the breakdown of all serious events by vaccine type and age. About three-quarters of persons that have been vaccinated in Jamaica up to Oct. 12 are under 60.

  ---

  18º North will provide an update when we are able to get the breakdown of serious adverse events by age. Support the work that we do by taking out a paid subscription. It’s US$11.50 a month or US$115 a year, including sales tax.