240,000 Filipinos Vaccinated with Coronavirus — FDA

As of March 17, more than 240,000 people had been vaccinated against the coronavirus, 3.1% of whom had experienced so-called adverse events, according to the local Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

FDA Secretary-General Eric Domingo told an online news briefing of 167,798 of the 240,297 vaccinated on Thursday. Given a CoronaVac shot created by Sinovac Biotech Ltd. He added that 72,499 were given the vaccine created by Astra Zeneca Plc.

Of the more than 7,000 patients who reported adverse events, 3,700 received the Sinovac vaccine. According to Domingo, one patient died, 137 were serious and 7,331 were not.

Serious adverse events refer to death or life-threatening situations, hospitalizations, persistent disabilities, birth defects, and “medically significant events or reactions,” FDA officials said. ..

Rommel Crisenio M. Robo, Vice-Chairman of National Post-Vaccination Adverse Events, said that post-vaccination adverse medical events were reported as adverse events, even if not caused by the vaccine. Said.

For example, a person who was bitten by a dog after being vaccinated should report it as an adverse event, he said.

Robo said a 47-year-old woman who died of coronavirus after being vaccinated had comorbidities such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and bronchial asthma.

He added that the patient was vaccinated with CoronaVac on March 4, and showed no symptoms at the time of screening. She tested positive for the virus on March 8 and was admitted to the hospital two days later.

“Unfortunately, she died of a COVID-19 infection on March 13, and as we all know, the COVID-19 vaccine does not cause COVID-19 disease,” he told the briefing. Told.

Health director Beverly Lorraine C. Ho said there was no reason to suspend the vaccination program after death.

“The vaccine did not cause the death of health care workers,” she said. “Second, as DoH and the FDA continue to emphasize, the benefits of vaccination continue to outweigh the risk of getting infected with COVID-19, especially severe COVID-19.”

Meanwhile, 97% of the coronavirus vaccine was distributed to more than 950 vaccination facilities nationwide, said presidential spokesman Herminio L. Roque, Jr. Says.

The Philippines began vaccination on March 1 with a donation of 600,000 Vials of CoronaVac from China and 525,600 doses of vaccine manufactured by the British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.

Roque said the private sector would be allowed to purchase the vaccine directly from the manufacturer only if the shot was allowed “general use”.

He said private companies seeking to buy vaccines for workers would need to enter into a tripartite agreement with the vaccine maker and the government.

“Even if they try to go directly to the manufacturer, there is no vaccine approved for general use,” he said in Filipino.

The Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) urged the government on Wednesday to allow companies to import vaccines without restrictions or taxes as they face a new surge in coronavirus infections.

PCCI also requested the FDA to quickly follow reviews of other vaccines for emergency use.

Roque said he would be asked to provide Sinovac with additional data on the efficacy of CoronaVac before administering the vaccine to older people.

“Steps will be taken to require local representatives of Sinovac to present additional data to the FDA so that they can change the emergency use authorization issued by the FDA,” he said in a mixture of English and Filipinos. ..

He expressed his support for using CoronaVac for older people as it was already used by older people in other countries.

Brazil, Turkey and Indonesia are one of the countries that allow older people to use CoronaVac, according to Reuters. — — Won Marlo M. Villegas And Kyle Aristo Ferre T. Atienza