More than 24,000 so-called adverse events had been reported among the more than a million Filipinos who got vaccinated against the coronavirus, 24 of whom died, the local Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Friday.
FDA Director-General Rolando Enrique D. Domingo told an online news briefing most of the 24 people who died had other serious illnesses.
Of the 24 who died, 11 got infected with the coronavirus, eight had cardiovascular or cerebrovascular illnesses, three had other infectious diseases and two were still pending review.
He said 24,698 adverse events after immunization were reported, 7,044 of whom received Sinovac Biotech Ltd.’s CoronaVac, while 17,654 got vaccinated with the shot from AstraZeneca Plc.
Aside from the 24 deaths, Mr. Domingo said 24,330 were not serious and 344 were serious. Serious adverse events refer to those that require admission to a hospital, death or life-threatening events, significant disability and birth defects, he added.
He said the most common adverse events reported from those who got the CoronaVac were increased blood pressure, headache, pain in the vaccination site, dizziness and fever.
For the AstraZeneca vaccine, adverse events were fever, headache, pain in the vaccination site, chills and body pains.
He said 10 of those who died got the CoronaVac and 14 got AstraZeneca shots. “Most of them are not related to the vaccination,” he said of the deaths, adding that the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the risks.
As of April 20, about 1.4 million had received their first dose and 209,456 got their second dose, according to the Health department. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas