SUNGAI PETANI,Mar 19 – Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has denied that the death of a Penang Hospital staff nurse five days after receiving the Covid-19 vaccine inoculation is related to the virus.
He told The Star that post-mortem results showed the nurse died of a heart attack.
“It’s not due to the vaccine,” Dr Noor Hisham told The Star.
Doctors had earlier called on the people not to jump to conclusions over the death of the nurse after she apparently died in her sleep just five days after receiving the first dosage of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
The doctors had said a detailed investigation needed to be conducted first, in urging the people not to draw to any conclusions prematurely.
The nurse, 45, died in her sleep at her residence in Bandar Sri Astana here yesterday.
According to a statement by her husband, his wife started complaining of body aches until a day before her death – and subsequently, the victim complained of pain all over her body and suffered from shortness of breath.
Kuala Muda police chief Adzly Abu Shah said that before the incident, the victim’s husband also informed the nurses at Penang Hospital that his wife had complained of pain all over her body and wanted to rest before heading into the bedroom at 11.30pm.
“At 2am, when her husband went into the bedroom to sleep, her husband tried to wake up his wife but there was no response,” Adzly said.
“Her husband then proceeded to make an emergency call, and an examination found that the nurse had died.”
Adzly said the victim’s husband also made it known that his wife also had a history of high blood pressure.
“The case was classified as sudden death, and her remains was sent to Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital in Alor Star for further examination,” he said.