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MORE than 240,000 people had been vaccinated against the coronavirus as of March 17, 3.1% of whom experienced so-called adverse events, according to the local Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
FDA CEO Eric Domingo told an online news conference Thursday 167,798 of the 240,297 people who got vaccinated. received CoronaVac injections manufactured by Sinovac Biotech Ltd. He added that 72,499 received vaccines manufactured by AstraZeneca Plc.
Of the more than 7,000 patients who reported adverse events, 3,700 received Sinovac vaccines. One patient died, 137 were serious and 7,331 were not serious, Domingo said.
The FDA chief said serious adverse events refer to death or life-threatening situations, hospitalization, persistent disability, birth defects and any “medically important event or reaction.”
Any adverse medical event after vaccination, even if not caused by the vaccine, is reported as an adverse event, said Rommel Crisenio M. Lobo, vice president of the National Committee on Adverse Events After Immunization.
For example, a person who was bitten by a dog after being injected with a vaccine must report it as an adverse event, he said.
Lobo said the 47-year-old woman who got vaccinated and later died from the coronavirus had comorbidities such as diabetes, hypertension and bronchial asthma.
He added that the patient was vaccinated with CoronaVac on March 4 and did not show any symptoms on screening. She tested positive for the virus on March 8 and was admitted to a hospital two days later.
“Unfortunately, he died on March 13 from the COVID-19 infection, and the COVID-19 vaccine does not cause, as we all know, the COVID-19 disease,” he said at the briefing.
Health Director Beverly Lorraine C. Ho said there is no reason to suspend the vaccination program after death.
“The vaccine is not what caused the health worker’s death,” he said. “Second, as the Department of Health and the FDA have continued to emphasize, the benefits of vaccination continue to outweigh the risk of contracting COVID-19, a particularly severe COVID-19.”
Meanwhile, 97% of coronavirus vaccines have been distributed to more than 950 vaccination sites across the country, said presidential spokesman Herminio L. Roque, Jr.
The Philippines kicked off its vaccination campaign on March 1 with the Chinese donation of 600,000 CoronaVac vials and 525,600 doses of the vaccines manufactured by British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.
Roque said the private sector will only be able to buy vaccines directly from manufacturers once the vaccines are licensed for “general use.”
He said that private companies seeking to buy vaccines for their workers must sign tripartite agreements with vaccine manufacturers and the National Government.
“Even if they try to go directly to the manufacturers, there is no vaccine approved for general use,” he said in Filipino.
The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) urged the government on Wednesday to allow companies to import vaccines without restrictions or taxes, as the country faces a further increase in coronavirus infections.
PCCI also asked the FDA to expedite its review of other vaccines for emergency use.
Roque said Sinovac will be asked to provide additional data on the effectiveness of CoronaVac before the vaccines can be administered to the elderly.
“Steps will be taken to ask local Sinovac representatives to submit additional data to the FDA so that the emergency use approval issued by the FDA can be modified,” he said in a mix of English and Filipino. “
He expressed support for the use of CoronaVac in older people, as it was already being used in older people in other countries.
Brazil, Turkey and Indonesia are among the countries that have allowed CoronaVac use for seniors, Reuters reported. – Won Marlo M. Villegas Y Kyle Aristophere T. Atienza
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