THE government will continue to roll out the vaccines against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) despite the reported death of a health worker following an inoculation.
Dr. Rommel Crisenio Lobo, vice chairman of the Department of Health (DoH) – National Adverse Events Following Immunization (NAEFIC), said the 47-year-old female patient, who was inoculated with Sinovac Biotech Ltd’s CoronaVac, died on March 13 after she was infected with the virus on March 8 and was hospitalized on March 10.
Lobo added that the patient had comorbidities listed in her health declaration form, such as asthma and diabetes, but which were controlled by maintenance medicines. She was also screened before she was vaccinated.
He added that the health worker’s death was not caused by the vaccine, as inactivated vaccines such as CoronVac contain dead viruses that cannot cause further infection among those who had been inoculated.
“The cause was determined to be unrelated to the vaccination, the cause of death was Covid-19, and to date there are more than 12,000 Filipinos who died with [the virus],” Lobo told reporters in a media conference on Thursday.
Lobo said that the patient may have been exposed to a positive individual and may have been asymptomatic during the time she was vaccinated.
Philippine Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Director-General Rolando Enrique Domingo said that there is no established protection in the first few weeks of vaccination of the first dose.
“This is the time when your immune system is trying to develop, so expected na ang (it is expected that in the) first few weeks after vaccination, your risk of getting Covid-19 is the same as a non-vaccinated person,” Domingo added.
Domingo said that they have communicated with Sinovac’s local partner to see if there are similar occurrences that happened after the inoculation of the vaccines.
Dr. Beverly Lorraine Ho, DoH Director for Health Promotion and Disease Control and Prevention, underscored the importance of vaccination and following minimum health standards.
“We reiterate that all the vaccines that the FDA has approved may remain safe and effective in preventing Covid infection…. we must continue to practice our intensified health standards,” Ho said.