Without giving figures, Dr Jemilah Mahmood said such cases were deemed average when compared to global numbers reported by the World Health Organization and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
She said that while there is hearsay information over deaths caused by Covid-19 vaccines, the only way to be certain was to carry out a post-mortem to find out if the vaccines were the actual cause.
Jemilah said that is why the government recorded every case of adverse effects suffered following immunisation (or AEFIs) so as to establish causality or a direct link to vaccines.
“I think causality is very important if I have some pre-morbid or co-morbid conditions. The vaccine could be just a coincidence.
“Of course, every death is a sad event, but we cannot attribute deaths to these vaccines alone,” she said at a press conference after opening the Virus Hunter programme by the Penang Science Cluster and the US embassy.
Jemilah was asked about the concerns raised by netizens on social media platforms over Covid-19 and the present roll-out of vaccines.
“The most important thing is to have a strong stand that we do not hide the truth. If there is something that we need to tell the public, we will.
“At the moment, meetings are held every week and every single AEFI is looked at in detail,” she said.
Separately, US ambassador to Malaysia Brian McFeeters said America will continue to support Malaysia’s road to Covid-19 recovery, with a recent US$2 million (RM8.33 million) donation used to fund personal protective equipment and to assist refugee communities.
He said that as for the seven million Covid-19 doses pledged by the Biden-Harris administration to Asia, he said Malaysia would receive a “significant” number of the total.
McFeeters said while the exact number of doses is yet to be known, he expected more vaccines to be pledged by the US by next year as manufacturing of vaccines would have been ramped up by then.
He said that in the long run, the US is coming up with a virology prediction institute by gathering a network of capable scientists to predict future pandemics.
Asked about a possible tech transfer of the best minds involving virologists and other experts from the US to Malaysia, he said that idea would be proposed to Washington to be worked into an ongoing public health partnership.
Earlier, McFeeters launched the Virus Hunter campaign as part of a campaign to increase awareness about combating infectious diseases and the ability to identify pandemic misinformation.
Virus Hunter features content on topics like zoonotic diseases and vaccine research, and youths interested to join can visit their website along with virtual STEM workshops conducted by the team at the Penang Science Cluster.
Once restrictions on movements and in-person gatherings have been lifted, a physical Virus Hunter exhibit will travel to seven cities in Malaysia and include live workshops and science demonstrations.
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