DOH: Less than 1% of COVID-19 vaccine recipients report serious side effects

Less than 1% of COVID-19 vaccine recipients experienced “very rare” serious side effects, the Department of Health (DOH) said Monday.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said 0.012% of reported side effects were serious while 1.10% were non-serious.

The Philippines has administered over 4 million COVID-19 jabs as of May 22, 3.1 million of which were first doses and 949,939 were second doses. 

An expert earlier said fever, headache, pain at the vaccination site, muscle pains, and increased blood pressure were some of the most commonly reported non-serious side effects after COVID-19 vaccination. 

A serious adverse event, on the other hand, is one that requires hospital admission, involves death or a life-threatening reaction, and causes significant disability or birth defects and fetal malformations.

“Until now, according to our National Adverse Events Following Immunization Committee, we have not seen that any of these serious or non-serious side effects were directly caused by the vaccines,” Vergeire said in a mix of English and Filipino during an online briefing.

She also assured the public that all COVID-19 vaccines approved for emergency use in the Philippines were found to be safe and effective after a stringent evaluation process.

This was after Vice President Leni Robredo expressed concern that the DOH’s “brand agnostic” policy, in which there will be no public announcements of available brands in vaccination sites, may dampen public confidence in the inoculation campaign. 

The DOH earlier assured the public that they would be informed on site of the vaccine brand that would be administered to them. 

A vaccine expert also said all COVID-19 vaccines that have been rolled out in the country perform well in real world conditions. —KG, GMA News