FOUR minors with comorbidities reported adverse effects following immunization (AEFIs), Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said yesterday.
“One saw a rise in blood pressure, one had allergic reaction, and two were ruled as stress-related or anxieties due to immunization,” Vergeire said.
The adverse effects are classified as mild.
The four were among 1,509 minors aged 12 to 17 years who have been given COVID-19 shots as of Saturday. They make up less than 1 percent of total number of minors who have received the COVID vaccines since Friday. Among vaccinated adults, also less than 1 percent have reported adverse effects following immunization.
Vergeire said the DOH is continuously evaluating details of the reported AEFIs.
“We only have brief details as they have yet to be officially reported to the Food and Drug Administration,” she said.
Last Friday, the DOH started the initial phase of the pediatric vaccination of those 12 to 17 years old with comorbidities. The DOH is targeting to vaccinate some 144,000 minors with comorbidities this month.
The rollout involves only eight hospitals in the National Capital Region or Metro Manila and their patients.
So far, Vergeire said, the launch of pediatric inoculation has been “smooth.”
“The key has been the pre-vaccination assessment and the clearance from the doctors.
There have also been no problem with the giving of consent and assent of the parents and minors,” she said.
Vergeire also said many aspects of the pediatric vaccination still need to be improved.
“We need to improve our pace as well as encourage more children with comorbidities to come and get vaccinated,” said Vergeire.
The next phase of the pediatric vaccination will see the expansion to one hospital per local government in Metro Manila.
Vergeire also reported that almost about 12,970 vaccine doses have been wasted in the national immunization program that started on March 1.
The wastage is less than 1 percent of at least 90.6 million doses received by the country since March. The acceptable wastage set by the World Health Organization is 5 percent.
“Most of the reasons would be temperature excursions,” said Vergeire.
She said there are also incidents, wherein COVID-19 doses were lost or damaged in transport.
Vergeire also said there are incidents of vaccines having no labels, and these had to be discarded, and cases of vaccines having particulate matters, making them useless.
As of October 17, the DOH said at least 52 million doses have been administered nationwide, and about 24.3 million individuals have been fully vaccinated.
Broken down by priority groups, 2.45 million healthcare workers (A1) are fully jabbed, 4.55 million senior citizens (A2), and 6.97 million persons with comorbidities (A3).
There are also 7.70 million fully jabbed frontline workers (A4), 2.34 million indigent people (A5), and 271,000 from the rest of the population (B and C).
On the other hand, the DOH noted that 27,996,002 are considered as partially vaccinated.
