The Department of Health (DH) announced that as of 6pm today (March 7), two reports were received from the Hospital Authority (HA) in the past 24 hours regarding cases admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) with suspected serious adverse events following COVID-19 vaccination.
According to the information provided by the HA, the first case involved an 80-year-old man who has history of diabetes, carotid atherosclerosis, hypertension and stroke. He suffered from chest pain on March 6 and sought treatment at Accident & Emergency Department (AED) of Caritas Medical Centre. The patient did not respond well to treatment and was transferred to the ICU for further management on the same night. The provisional diagnosis was acute coronary syndrome and he was in critical condition. According to the information, he received COVID-19 vaccination at Tin Fai Road Sports Centre Community Vaccination Centre, Yuen Long on March 1.
Another case involved a 72-year-old woman who has history of diabetes, hyperlipidaemia, hypertension and hypothyroidism, and received COVID-19 vaccination at Tseung Kwan O Sports Centre Community Vaccination Centre on March 6. She felt malaise after vaccination and skipped two doses of regular insulin. On the morning of March 7, she was found to have decreased general condition by her family member. She was admitted to Prince of Wales Hospital and was found to have severe diabetic ketoacidosis and transferred to the ICU for further treatment.
The DH has immediately contacted the HA upon the notifications to obtain further information on the incidents for conducting investigation and assessment. The DH will provide the cases to the Expert Committee on Clinical Events Assessment Following COVID-19 Immunisation for conducting causality assessment as soon as possible, and the assessment result will be released in a timely manner.