LESS than one percent of the 448,235 individuals inoculated with the Covid-19 vaccine experienced minor side effects, while seven others experienced "serious" adverse effects, the Department of Health (DOH)-Davao reported.
Dr. Raquel Montejo, DOH-Davao Local Health Support Division chief, said on Monday, August 23, that the data of those who experienced minor side effects is 0.008 percent or 3,765 of the 448,235 individuals who received the two doses, which are considered as fully vaccinated.
Montejo said minor side effects include pain in the injection side, fever, increase in blood pressure, skin rashes, muscle pain and fatigue.
She said those with serious cases had hypersensitivity reactions after inoculation. She added that these people are usually with existing comorbidity.
The DOH official also revealed that there were 22 who died after vaccination. But she clarified that it is not yet conclusive if their deaths were caused by the vaccine itself.
She said, though, that there is a possibility that those who died days after being vaccinated might have been infected with the virus days before or after being vaccinated.
"Actually, hindi pa natin naiisa isa 'yung ating Covid-19 cases na namatay at kung kelan sila last nabakunahan. We have data kung sino ating active cases ngayon at sino naka-first dose, second dose (we have not yet checked the Covid-19 case deaths, and how many of them were vaccinated, and the interval days. Although we have the data on how many of them are active cases, and how many of them received their first and second dose)," the DOH official said during the DOH-Davao virtual presser.
Montejo said the Regional Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI) Committee is the one that issue an advisory if the vaccinee who succumbed after getting inoculated is due to the vaccine.
The official said the Regional AEFI Committee is a separate body composed of different private medical practitioners in the region, and has submitted the initial causality assessment to the National AEFI, which determines if the deaths are due to the vaccines.
"Yung findings nila ay sinusubmit sa (Their findings will be submitted to the) national AEFI committee. 'Yang (It's the) National AEFI committee ang makakapagsabi (who will determine) if this is due to Covid-19 vaccines or not," she said.
Montejo said the vaccines, overall, are still safe and can provide an additional layer of protection against Covid-19. But she said they must still comply with the minimum health protocols to curb the spread of the virus.
"Sana 'yung other individuals na hindi pa nabakunahan, 'wag silang mag-alala (We hope other individuals who have not yet been vaccinated should not worry) because these [cases] are all minor," she said.
As of August 22, the region has already received a total of 2,302,060 doses of Covid-19 vaccine. Out of the total, 1,799,802 were already distributed.
Out of the distributed vaccines, 888,731 were already administered with the first dose and 448,235 for the second dose.
