A man who died 13 days after being given a Covid-19 vaccine was already suffering from a chronic illness and it was not a consequence of the inoculation, says the Public Health Ministry.
Speaking at the provincial ministry office in Nonthaburi, Dr Tawee Chotpitayasunondh, of the National Communicable Disease Committee, confirmed earlier reports the man had an aortic aneurysm and had undergone surgery to treat the heart disorder in late January.
He remained in hospital for about 40 days before being discharged and a week later, his condition was normal, Dr Tawee said.
The man had been made aware that his illness would put him at high risk from Covid-19, so he sought and received a vaccine shot on March 3.
He reported feeling fine the next day and two days later, but on days 8 and 9, he reported chest tightness and dizziness. He later fainted and was admitted to hospital, where his condition deteriorated and he died on day 13.
"Doctors concluded that his death resulted from a ruptured abdominal aneurysm, which was linked to his chronic illness," Dr Tawee said.
"It was like a time bomb buried in his body. This should not have anything to do with the inoculation, which only coincidentally happened about 10 days previously."
Deputy Prime Minister and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul also confirmed the death was not linked with the Covid-19 vaccination.
Mr Anutin then turned to the case of Deputy Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Mananya Thaiset, who had a fever after receiving a vaccine shot.
He said that was not unusual at all and the fever was gone two days after Ms Mananya visited a doctor.
Thailand has so far procured more than 73 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines, according to permanent secretary for public health Dr Kiattiphum Wongrajit.
They are two million doses from Sinovac Biotech, 61 million doses from AstraZeneca in the UK and another five million doses from AstraZeneca (Thailand).
As of Wednesday 136,190 doses of the Sinovac and AstraZeneca vaccines had been given to 121,392 people of which 14,798 had now received both shots.
