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. 2021 Aug 18;53:101956. doi: 10.1016/j.legalmed.2021.101956

Deaths associated with newly launched SARS-CoV-2 vaccination

Rujittika Mungmunpuntipamtip a,, Viroj Wiwanitkit b
PMCID: PMC8372443  PMID: 34425384

Dear Editor, we would like to share ideas on “Deaths associated with newly launched SARS-CoV-2 vaccination (Comirnaty®)”. Edler et al. concluded that “Data on suspected cases of severe vaccine complications are available to regulatory…. of single case reports and carefully analyzed case collections [1].” Data on adverse effects of the new vaccine is usually limited and it is usually questionable on transparency of public data given by local authorities. The report might be not permitted in some settings and this result in lack of complete data on vaccine safety [2]. In developing countries, such as those in Indochina, the legal investigation and autopsy of a death case after COVID-19 vaccine administration might be performed but it has never been concluded as a vaccine adverse effect but a background illness. The criteria for diagnosis of vaccine induced death must be standardized and internationally implemented [3]. Finally, not only the investigation on death related to the new vaccines but also the new ways for administration such as mixed heterogenous vaccination are necessary. At present, most new vaccines are registered for emergency use with lack of complete scientific data. In the worse cases, some new vaccine administrations, such as cocktailed vaccination or extradosage vaccination, are used without scientific publications for supporting. Based on emergency situation, the urgent use of new vaccine is necessary but the ethical and legal control are more important. If there is a fair transparent investigation system, such as reported by Edler et al., we might have more scientific data for supporting risk–benefit of new vaccine and can give the best healthcare to the general people.

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

References

  • 1.Edler C., Klein A., Schröder A.S., Sperhake J.P., Ondruschka B. Deaths associated with newly launched SARS-CoV-2 vaccination (Comirnaty®) Leg Med (Tokyo). 2021;51 doi: 10.1016/j.legalmed.2021.101895. Jul. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 2.Mishra S., Mungmunpuntipantip I. Editorial: a good case report that might not be accepted for publication in a journal. Case Study Case Rep. 2021;11(2):32–33. [Google Scholar]
  • 3.Pomara C., Sessa F., Ciaccio M., Dieli F., Esposito M., Giammanco G.M., Garozzo S.F., Giarratano A., Prati D., Rappa F., Salerno M., Tripodo C., Mannucci P.M., Zamboni P. COVID-19 Vaccine and Death: Causality Algorithm According to the WHO Eligibility Diagnosis. Diagnostics (Basel). 2021;11(6):955. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics11060955. May 26. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Legal Medicine (Tokyo, Japan) are provided here courtesy of Elsevier

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