FIRST SHOT. A woman with comorbidity receives her first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine in Quezon City. A health official said less than one percent of the persons who received the Covid-19 vaccine experienced serious adverse events. (File photo)
MANILA – Less than one percent of the persons who received the Covid-19 vaccine experienced serious adverse events, a health official said Monday.
“Out of this 4.09 million na vaccinees na nabigyan na natin, less than one percent ang suspected adverse events natin na serious. We have serious and non-serious adverse events, ‘yung seryoso na tinatawag natin is just .012, .012 percent po ang nakaranas ng (less than one percent have suspected adverse events that is serious. We have serious and non-serious adverse events, the serious is just .012, .012 percent experienced) serious adverse events,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in an online media forum.
The National Adverse Events Following Immunization Committee have not seen any evidence that the serious side events are directly caused by the Covid-19 vaccines, Vergeire said.
“Iyung mga non-serious side events po ay 1.10 percent po (The non-serious side events is just 1.10 percent) of these 4.09 million individuals,” she said.
Earlier, the committee advised the public about the common or non-serious adverse events following Covid-19 vaccination. These include pain at the vaccination site such as upper arm, headache, fever, increased blood pressure and muscle pains.
Meanwhile, serious adverse events include convulsions, tightening of the chest, swelling of the face and the throat, bleeding, and other life-threatening reactions which require immediate hospitalization.
Since the country began its vaccination rollout on the first day of March, a total of 4,097,425 doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered as of May 22.
About 3,147,486 have received the first dose while 949,939 persons have completed the required two doses. (PNA)
