Health Secretary Francisco Duque III (Screengrab from PTV)
MANILA – Health Secretary Francisco Duque III on Friday assured the safety and efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines, as he received his first dose of the CoronaVac vaccine.
Duque, who is under the A2 category, said vaccines are important in the fight against the ongoing pandemic.
“As I receive my dose of the Covid-19 vaccine today, I invite everyone to do the same and choose to be protected. Let us all take part in protecting public health, and let us be in unison in spreading one message: that vaccines are safe, and vaccines are effective,” Duque said.
In urging people to get a Covid shot, Duque said the continuous rollout of vaccines would save countless lives.
Even with the global shortage of vaccine supplies, available vaccines are valuable and should not be wasted, he added.
Despite such challenges, Duque assured the public that the government, through vaccine czar Sec. Carlito Galvez, Jr. and the vaccine cluster, are doing their best to secure sufficient vaccine doses to cover 70 million Filipinos.
Meantime, as the Philippines continues the vaccination rollout, local incidents of adverse events after vaccination have also been reported.
The Department of Health (DOH) and the Philippine Food and Drug Administration (FDA) assured the public that the vaccines are safe and effective in preventing hospitalization and deaths from the disease, and that the benefits of vaccination far outweigh its risks.
During the regular Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI) presser, health officials reported that as of April 10 — with the country as of said date having vaccinated 1 million individuals — almost all cases of AEFI were vaccinees who experienced very mild side effects, and only 1.5 percent of the total AEFIs were serious.
All reported serious AEFIs were later found to be coincidental and totally unrelated to the vaccine after careful and thorough causality assessment conducted by the National AEFI Council (NAEFIC)—an independent expert body organized to investigate reports of AEFI.
“From the start of our vaccination period to April 10, only 1.5% of the total AEFIs were serious cases. This means that for every 1,000,000 vaccinated, less than 0.04% may experience serious AEFI cases. But it does not necessarily mean that the vaccine causes the events. This risk is much lower than the fatality of the COVID-19 infection in our country which has a 1.69% fatality rate,” FDA Director General Eric Domingo said.
Common side effects of vaccines such as headache, fever, pain in the injection site, malaise, fatigue, muscle pain, and increased blood pressure are normal signs that one’s body is developing protection against Covid-19, according to health experts.
Both the DOH and the FDA guaranteed that all reported adverse events were properly attended to ensure total minimization of the risk of side effects, despite the risk already being extremely minimal. (PR)
