A Hong Kong man passed away two days after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, authorities said Tuesday.
The 63-year-old, who had chronic and respiratory diseases, received the shot at a community vaccination center in Jordan on Feb. 26.
He sought treatment at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in the early hours of Feb. 28 as he was experiencing shortness of breath. There, doctors preliminarily diagnosed him with bronchitis.
His condition deteriorated, and the patient died around 6am that day.
The man’s death marks the city’s first casualty of a patient after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.
The Department of Health said in a statement that authorities have not been able to confirm that the death was vaccine-related, and that a causality assessment will be conducted.
Separately, an 84-year-old man who was vaccinated at the Kowloon Bay Sports Center suffered from headache and hypertension. He was sent to United Christian Hospital for treatment and was in stable condition, and has since left the hospital.
Over 40,000 people have received their first COVID-19 jabs, the China-made Sinovac vaccine, since Hong Kong began its vaccination program last week.
Online booking began for the Cominarty vaccine on Wednesday, the first batch of which arrived in the city from Germany over the weekend.
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