A paltry 10 percent of the 2,000 or so individuals who died in Japan within hours or days of being inoculated against COVID-19 underwent dissection to pinpoint the cause of death, The Asahi Shimbun has learned.

As a result, in the view of experts, it is impossible to determine with any certainty the degree to which side effects resulting from being jabbed were responsible for the fatalities.

Two and a half years have already passed since the rollout of the nationwide inoculation program, but an expert government panel stated that the causal link between jabs and fatalities “cannot be evaluated” in almost all reported instances.

In the absence of an effective system to gauge the cause of the fatalities, one academic is calling for dissections to be performed for all suspicious fatalities.

LACK OF INFORMATION

Data from medical centers and other institutions as of April 30 of this year showed that 2,075 people died after being inoculated, potentially due to adverse reactions, according to a health ministry expert committee studying the side effects of COVID-19 jabs.

Of that figure, autopsies which involved dissection were performed in 230 cases to ascertain causes of death. Half of the overall cases, 1,030, were reported to the panel with no details regarding tests or methods to determine the likely causes of death.

The 2,075 causes of death were reported by not only medical institutions but also vaccine manufacturers and vendors to the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency (PMDA).

In those cases, the PMDA commissioned doctors and outside specialists to scrutinize whether any causal link could be established.

The findings were then sent to the health ministry, where the committee that studies side effects held discussions.

The panel concluded that a causal relationship between vaccinations and death “cannot be denied” in just two cases.

Such a link was “not recognized” for 11 individuals.

In 2,062 cases, the panel was unable to make a judgment “given the dearth of data and other reasons.”

“Those cases cannot be evaluated apparently because few dissections were performed,” said Koichi Suzuki, professor emeritus of forensic medicine at Osaka Medical and Pharmaceutical University.

The Japanese Society of Legal Medicine released a statement in July last year in reference to suspicions regarding vaccine-related deaths.

The statement mentioned the fact that the health ministry panel could not establish a causal relation between vaccination and death due to the lack of data. 

It recommended that more dissections be performed to provide more detailed medical information about suspicious deaths.

LIMITATIONS IN SYSTEM, GUIDANCE

In essence, the current framework throws up systematic hurdles in the way autopsies are conducted.

Autopsies fall into two categories. Pathological dissection explores the cause of death in relation to disease and the effects of medical treatment, while forensic anatomy, which comes under the jurisdiction of the police and local authorities, is performed when the cause of death is not obvious.

A decision on whether to perform a pathological dissection is determined by medical authorities.

Advanced techniques other than dissection are increasingly available for identifying the cause of death, a development widely welcomed by bereaved families who are usually hesitant about their loved ones being cut up.

The procedure for this type of postmortem is performed less and less each year.

More than 40,000 pathological dissections were performed in fiscal 1985, according to the Japanese Society of Pathology. The number plummeted to 7,717 in fiscal 2020. The decline is in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Forensic anatomy allows for judicial dissection in suspected criminal cases while the administrative autopsy is performed for public hygiene purposes. Postmortems carried out to establish the cause of death and the identity of the victim in cases not regarded as suspicious are based on the judgment of police chiefs in the area where the death occurred.

Administrative autopsies are available primarily under the medical examiner system, which is limited to Tokyo’s 23 wards, as well as Osaka, Nagoya and Kobe. This reality underscores a yawning regional gap in accessibility to dissection.

“The decision on whether to dissect those who died after being vaccinated can depend on where they live and whether they are regarded as victims of a criminal act under Japan’s current autopsy system,” said Toshikazu Kondo, a professor of forensic medicine at Wakayama Medical University.

Another factor behind the small number of dissections might stem from insufficient explanations given to bereaved families.

Masami Sato, a 68-year-old resident of Shijonawate, Osaka Prefecture, found her health drastically worsened last November after she was vaccinated. She died 30 minutes after being administered her injection.

Sato had no underlying health problems. Her family refused to give approval for a dissection to be performed to establish the cause of death.

“We were not prepared to select that procedure,” recalled Sato’s eldest daughter, Kaori, 46.

Sato received her jab at an inoculation center set up by Shijonawate city. She stayed behind for 15 minutes in case her body showed any reaction.

While cooking with her family upon returning home, Sato abruptly collapsed, after saying, “I’m in a bit of pain.”

Her family promptly called emergency services. Sato had suffered a cardiac arrest by the time the ambulance arrived.

Her family, naturally, suspected the tragedy was the result of her vaccination. They asked a doctor whether this was so at the hospital to which Sato was taken and heard the physician acknowledge that the likelihood “cannot be denied.”

BODY TRANSFERRED TO POLICE

Her family members were asked by the police if they would agree to a dissection of Sato’s corpse for a closer examination. They declined the offer on grounds they wanted the body to “return home as soon as possible.”

Checking a medical report on the cause of death issued by a police-commissioned doctor the following day, the family discovered there was no mention of the inoculation in the minutes leading up to her death.

Sato’s family was left with no evidence to suggest a link between vaccination and her death.

“The entire family was overcome with shock,” said Kaori. “We would have chosen dissection if we had been given a thorough explanation of the procedure.”

Sato’s death fell under the category of cases that were “unable to be assessed.” 

Kondo, who also serves as chairman of the Japanese Society for Forensic Pathology, called for the introduction of an extensive dissection program.

“It is still not too late,” he said.

He suggested a legal framework should be established so that any person who dies, for example, within three to five days of their vaccination be examined via anatomy.

Suzuki at Osaka Medical and Pharmaceutical University was inclined to agree.

“The need for specialists in infectious diseases was reaffirmed during the novel coronavirus crisis, whereas they had previously been in short supply,” he said. “A system to ascertain cause of death certainly needs to be thoroughly reviewed through discussions.”

(This article was written by Chifumi Shinya and Kumiko Yamane.)