The Ministry of Public Health has pledged to perform an autopsy on the body of a saleswoman whose relatives claimed she died two days after she received the second dose of Sinovac's Covid-19 vaccine in Samut Sakhon.
The ministry's move came after her relatives disclosed details to the media on Sunday, saying they were concerned that it might be linked to the doses of Sinovac's Covid-19 vaccine she had recently been given.
The 23-year-old saleswoman whose name was not disclosed on Monday received her second shot of Sinovac's Covid-19 vaccine on April 21 in Samut Sakhon where she worked.
The following day she was very ill with vomiting and a headache. Later that day she was admitted to a hospital in Pathum Thani and was pronounced dead just two days later on April 23. Her funeral rite is being held at a temple in her hometown of Ang Thong.
According to her relatives, they have received no formal explanation for her sudden death.
Chawetsan Namwat, acting director of the Emergency Health Hazard and Disease Control Division of the ministry, said at a press conference that it is too early to say whether the vaccine had been a factor.
"We will perform an autopsy on her body to determine the true cause of her death,'' Dr Chawetsan said.
He went on to say that the case had also been submitted to the ministry's committee on Adverse-Event Following Immunisation to investigate.
"We have yet to find a death we could attribute to the vaccine. There is no need to suspend the roll-out as we strongly believe it can and will help to bring the outbreak under control.
"However, it is our duty to investigate and we will let the public know once the facts become clearer,'' he said.
The doctor also noted that two other deaths which some had blamed on the vaccine had been proven to have been the result of pre-existing health complaints -- those of a monk in Bangkok and a man in Samut Prakan.
In both cases, autopsies ruled out the Covid-19 vaccine as the cause.