MANILA — Reports of fatal outcome following COVID-19 vaccination are not all causally related to the jab, the Department of Health said Friday.

DOH officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire made this remark in response to a question about deaths supposedly associated to the inoculation.

According to a report from the Food and Drug Administration, there were 2,573 fatal events recorded after COVID-19 vaccination as of July 25.

The drug regulator noted "reports of fatal outcome does not necessarily mean that the vaccine caused the events."

"So, ibig sabihin hindi po lahat ng namamatay dahil sa pagkakabakuna ay dahil dito sa COVID-19 vaccine," Vergeire said in a press briefing. "Not all of this are causally related dito sa pagbabakuna natin."

As of Aug. 6, the country has administered more than 159 million doses of COVID-19 shots, she said. Of the figure, some 0.07 percent reported adverse reaction while 0.006 percent were severe adverse reaction.

"Again, lahat po ng nire-report natin na fatal outcomes dito po sa ating website does not necessarily mean that the vaccines caused the deaths of these individuals," Vergeire stressed.

In FDA's "Reports of Suspected Adverse Reaction to COVID-19 Vaccines," the drug regulator said "underlying conditions or pre-existing medical conditions causing fatal events are usually coincidental on the use of the vaccine".

Of the fatal cases, 1,470 or 57.13 percent belonged to age group 60 years and above; 702 or 27.28 percent from 40-59; 332 or 12.90 percent from 18-39; 39 or 1.52 percent from 12-17; 12 or 0.47 percent from 5-11; and 18 or 0.70 percent were not identified to what age group they are classified.

"Most of these events occurred in persons with multiple existing comorbidities. These include cardiovascular diseases, ischemic heart diseases, cerebrovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, and infections including pneumonia. There were cases of confirmed COVID-19 infections leading to severe cases with fatal outcomes," the report reads.

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