A medical worker holds a vial containing AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine. A 35-year-old medical worker at the Tan Chau General Hospital in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang has died after getting vaccinated against Covid-19 – PHOTO: VNA

HCMC – A 35-year-old medical worker at the Tan Chau General Hospital in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang has died after getting vaccinated against Covid-19. This is the first death linked to Covid-19 vaccine in Vietnam, the Ministry of Health confirmed this evening, May 7.

The specialist council of the provincial Department of Health concluded: “She died of anaphylactic shock on people with allergic reactions to non-steroid. Such a case is rare in the Covid-19 vaccination campaign,” reported the local media.

According to Tu Quoc Tuan, director of the provincial Department of Health, she was vaccinated on the morning of May 6 at the hospital. Before getting a shot of the vaccine, she underwent a screening examination and was informed of possible post-vaccination reactions.

After being vaccinated, she showed anaphylactic reactions and the hospital handled her case in line with the healthcare sector’s guidelines. The hospital also held an online consultation with the An Giang Provincial General Hospital and Cho Ray Hospital in HCMC to promptly cope with the situation.

The patient was immediately transferred to the An Giang Provincial General Hospital. The Ministry of Health asked the Cho Ray Hospital to dispatch its intensive care specialists to the provincial hospital to assist with the emergency treatment of the patient. However, she succumbed today.

Minister of Health, Nguyen Thanh Long, contacted her family and the Covid-19 frontliners in An Giang to express his condolences on the passing of the medical worker.

Vietnam started its Covid-19 inoculation campaign using the Covid-19 vaccine produced by British drugmaker AstraZeneca on March 8 this year.

Up to now, 747,827 people in 57 provinces and cities nationwide have been vaccinated against the virus, reaching some 75% of the country’s Covid-19 vaccination target. People being subject to the vaccination program include healthcare workers who are directly providing medical treatment for Covid-19 patients, medical workers who are in charge of performing Covid-19 testing, contact tracing, police and border guard forces, and those who have been joining the fight against the virus.

Minister Long on May 6 said that 16% of over 600,000 vaccinated people suffered from normal side effects after getting the vaccine. The symptoms will disappear 24 hours after the vaccination. This rate remained lower than those of other countries, he added.

Other cases with more severe post-vaccination reactions had been handled by local doctors, said the minister.