The Secretary for Food and Health, Sophia Chan Siu-chee, said the Department of Health received a total of 1,357 reports over adverse events following immunization, which is about 0.24 percent of the total doses administered.

Chan said 14 of them were death cases reported by the Hospital Authority with a history of COVID-19 immunisation, existing information also indicates that most of these cases died of cardiovascular diseases.

“The Expert Committee on Clinical Events Assessment Following COVID-19 Immunisation has already concluded three of these reports that there was no causal relationship between the deceased's outcome and COVID-19 vaccination,” she said.

As for the remaining cases, Chan said the medical history and preliminary autopsy showed that the outcomes of the deceased were not directly associated with COVID-19 vaccination, adding that their assessment will be concluded by the committee when necessary further information is available.

The health chief also pointed out that there were 754 hospitalization cases reported by the Hospital Authority.

Symptoms of these patients needing hospitalization mainly included chest pain, fever, palpitation, etc.

There were also four cases reported by private hospitals, with the patients developing symptoms including blurred vision, chest pain, headache and increased blood pressure.

Chan also revealed that the Department of Health also received 584 other reports with milder conditions that did not require hospitalization.