Singapore data on bivalent COVID-19 vaccine show no increased risk of stroke: MOH

Singapore: Singapore data on the bivalent COVID-19 vaccine show no increased risk of ischemic stroke associated with updated Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech injections, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said on Saturday (January 14th).

Department of Health statement comes after US federal health officials Initiated Preliminary Safety Concern Investigation Regarding Potential Increased Stroke Risk in Older Adults who received the bivalent vaccine.

“In Singapore, the available bivalent vaccine field data to date have not shown an increased risk of ischemic stroke after receiving either Moderna or Pfizer-Biontech/Cominati bivalent vaccines. No,” said MOH.

“The safety profile of the bivalent mRNA vaccine has been observed to be similar to the monovalent version.”

Ischemic stroke, also known as cerebral ischemia, is caused by blockage of an artery that carries blood to the brain.

An interim safety concern was detected by one of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s surveillance systems.

The U.S. CDC said in a statement on Friday that so far other surveillance systems had not detected similar safety concerns.

They added that an increased risk of ischemic stroke with the latest bivalent vaccines has not been observed in other countries and that this issue requires further investigation.

Singapore’s Ministry of Health said multiple international studies have shown that vaccination with the latest bivalent COVID-19 vaccine reduces the risk of severe illness and death by several times compared to those who do not. .

“It is important to keep COVID-19 vaccination up to date to reduce the risk of severe COVID-19 and protect against current and future variants,” said MOH.

“The U.S. Health Sciences Administration (HSA) and the Expert Panel on COVID-19 Vaccination (EC19V) assess that the benefits of both Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty’s COVID-19 bivalent vaccines continue to outweigh the risks. doing.”

The panel continues to recommend that individuals receive bivalent booster doses to maintain a high level of protection against severe illness, the ministry added.

Safety concerns raised by one vaccine safety monitoring system have not been observed and verified by other US safety systems or analyses, or by other countries, the MOH said.

“Pfizer and BioNTech said in a statement that to date, the number of ischemic strokes reported after vaccination with the bivalent vaccine is low compared to the published incidence of ischemic stroke in this elderly population. I am observing,” he said.