Image credits: AP/AARON FAVILA
FOLLOWING the pilot deployment of the government’s Covid-19 vaccine drive on Monday, the Department of Health (DOH) said only 20 of the 756 vaccine recipients complained of “adverse events” after their inoculation.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said on Tuesday this was the latest result of their surveillance of the six vaccination sites, which were covered in the initial deployment of 600,000 doses of the Sinovac Biotech vaccines, as of 9 am on Tuesday.
The complaints included inflammation in the part of their arm where they were jabbed with the vaccine, rashes, headache, nausea and high blood pressure.
Vergeire said they monitored the said cases, while they implemented the mandatory 30-minute waiting period before allowing vaccine beneficiaries to leave the vaccination centers.
“All of them were monitored and managed accordingly before they were sent home. None of them were hospitalized,” Vergeire said in an interview with PTV.
Indemnification conditions
The health official said they will continue to monitor the health status of those who received the vaccine for at least a year to determine the efficacy of the vaccine they received.
Vaccine effectivity will be determined based on how it will lower the hospitalization rates, severe symptoms, and fatality among the population inoculated with it.
Lulu Bravo, a member of the government’s Adverse Effects Following Immunization (AEFI) committee, said those who complained of “adverse effect” will not immediately qualify for indemnification under Republic Act (RA) 115251 or the Covid-19 Vaccination Program Act of 2021.
The executive director of the Philippine Foundation for Vaccination said the AEFI will first review if the symptoms are indeed related to the Covid-19 vaccine before the complainants could qualify for government compensation.
She said side effects will be deemed related to the Covid-19 vaccine if it is established that it is a vaccine product-related reaction, vaccine quality-related reaction, immunization error-related reaction, and immunization anxiety-related reaction.
RA 115251 provides for a P500-million indemnification fund to be facilitated by the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) for people who will die, suffer permanent disability or hospital confinement for “serious adverse effects” attributed to Covid-19 vaccine use.
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