SINGAPORE — A 72-year-old Singaporean man was admitted to intensive care at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) on Tuesday (Feb 16) night after suffering from cardiac arrest. The authorities stressed though, that there is no indication that it is related to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine he had received earlier in the day.

In a news release on Thursday, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said that it was alerted to the incident by TTSH on Wednesday.

MOH said that the man — who has a history of cancer, hypertension and hyperlipidaemia, a condition related to abnormal cholesterol — had received his first dose of the vaccine on Tuesday morning.

Based on the hospital’s initial assessment, “there is no indication that the cardiac arrest was due to (the) Covid-19 vaccination”, MOH added.

Further tests are being conducted by the medical team to establish the cause of the man’s cardiac arrest.

Before getting his jab, the man had been assessed by trained healthcare personnel to be suitable for the Covid-19 vaccination, MOH said.

“In line with our protocols, he was also observed on-site for about 30 minutes post-vaccination and was well.” 

The ministry stressed that it is important to “vaccinate and protect our seniors as they are the most vulnerable to severe disease and complications from Covid-19 infection”.

“The World Health Organization has found no evidence that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine contributes to an increased risk of death in the elderly,” it said.

The Covid-19 vaccination exercise for seniors kicked off in Singapore late last month with pilots in Ang Mo Kio and Tanjong Pagar, where larger numbers of seniors live. 

Health Minister Gan Kim Yong had said then that the pilots would begin “cautiously”, covering 5,000 to 10,000 seniors in each of the two housing estates.

MOH had previously said that the pilots would enable the authorities to iron out the operational processes before scaling up the vaccination effort nationwide.

Last week, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that Singapore’s vaccination programme would enter its next phase as seniors from across the island start getting their jabs from Feb 22.

Mr Lee, who spoke to reporters at Changi General Hospital on Feb 12, said that the multi-ministry taskforce handling the Republic’s response to the coronavirus would share more details on the plan later.