Source: Great Game
A group of doctors have penned an “urgent open letter” to Singapore’s expert committee on Covid-19 vaccination, calling for the vaccination of youths in Singapore to be stopped until the US CDC clarifies why a teenage jab recipient died.
Written on “on behalf of many concerned pediatricians, primary care physicians, specialists, surgeons and GPs” and signed by a number of Singaporean medical professionals, the letter was posted on Facebook on Saturday.
Its authors urged the authorities to “consider a short delay” in vaccinating youths with messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) jabs in view of the recent incident in the US.
As reported by GreatGameIndia earlier, a 13-year-old boy died from heart problems after getting his second dose of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine, as health officials begin to link cases of heart inflammation in kids to the jabs.
Inflammation and swelling of the heart, a condition known as Myocarditis, has been identified in many youngsters who have received their dose of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.
The medics who signed the letter argued that that the CDC should be given “a few weeks to produce robust and convincing data” on the teen’s death and the possibility of a link to the inoculation.
They insist the issue is urgent because Singapore is pursuing “one of the most aggressive” mRNA programs in the world, in which at least 200,000 teenage boys are expected to be vaccinated.
“Certainly, we do not want to see any more suspected vaccine-related deaths in any young persons in the prime of their life,” the letter said.
As concerns spread, Singaporean parents have also launched a petition, asking the authorities of the island city-state to suspend the vaccination of those under 30, especially school kids from 12 to 15 years of age, until the CDC probe is complete. It has so far been signed by some 2,000 people.
On Sunday, the expert committee on Covid-19 vaccination confirmed that it had noted the medics’ letter. The authorities have provided assurance that they are closely monitoring local and global data to keep their recommendations up to date.
At the moment, the assessment is that the benefits of Covid-19 jabs outweigh the risks posed by the virus, the committee said.
The body has advised that the vaccination of local youths should continue, but added that as a precaution they should avoid intensive physical activities for a week after the second shot and contact a doctor in the event of any health complications.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday added a warning to patient and provider fact sheets for the Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines to indicate risk of heart inflammation.
