(PNA photo by Avito C. Dalan)
MANILA – The death of two healthcare workers (HCWs), one was a retired doctor and the other a midwife, in the provinces of Nueva Vizcaya and Isabela was due to the coronavirus disease and not the vaccine, a health official said Monday.
In an online media forum, Department of Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the two healthcare workers were inoculated with Covid-19 vaccine last March.
“Dr. Ciring [Cirilo] Galindez died of Covid and not because of being vaccinated. Just to make it clear, Dr. Ciring who was once our medical center chief in the hospital in Region 2 (Cagayan Valley), died of Covid,” Vergeire said.
Galindez, a retired doctor, was one of the individuals who contracted the virus in Nueva Vizcaya and died on April 2. He was chief of the Region 2 Trauma and Medical Center in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya until 2016.
“‘Yung sa San Mateo din (The healthcare worker from San Mateo), died of Covid,” Vergeire said.
She was referring to a midwife in San Mateo, Isabela who was vaccinated against the disease but died on March 25.
Earlier, the DOH said available Covid-19 vaccines in the country do not contain live virus so the individual would not get the disease after inoculation.
However, there is a possibility to get the disease after being vaccinated if the person was exposed to coronavirus 14 days before the first dose, and days in between the first dose and second dose before the body builds antibodies from the vaccine. (PNA)
