DOH: Post-vaccination death of health worker no reason to halt COVID-19 inoculation drive
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines will continue its vaccination drive against COVID-19 after the death of an inoculated healthcare worker, the Department of Health said as it maintained the vaccine had nothing to do with the outcome.
Health authorities stressed Thursday that the 47-year-old medical frontliner died because of COVID-19 and not due to vaccination.
“It’s very clear from the report. There’s no reason to suspend the vaccination program as the vaccine was not what caused the death of our healthcare worker,” said Beverly Ho, concurrent Director IV of the DOH’s Health Promotion Bureau and Disease Prevention and Control Bureau.
“The causality assessment has determined there’s no correlation between the vaccine and this event so our national deployment of COVID-19 vaccine shall continue,” she added.
The health official stressed the benefits of getting the vaccine outweigh the potential risks, and the jabs approved by the country’s Food and Drug Administration “remain safe and effective instrument in helping prevent severe cases.”
Government data showed that nearly 216,000 Filipinos have been vaccinated since the program started on March 1.
Comorbidities
The National Adverse Events Following Immunization Committee, which looked into the incident, said the health worker had comorbidities and also contracted COVID-19 last year.
NAEFIC vice chairman Rommel Lobo said the woman had hypertension, diabetes and bronchial asthma.
“The comorbidities present in this patient put her at risk of developing COVID-19,” Lobo said.
The medical personnel tested positive for COVID-19 on February 22. She took another test on the next day and it yielded a negative result.
Lobo said the initial positive test result “could have been remnants of previous infection” last year.
The health worker, who had no symptom upon screening, received Sinovac shot on March 4. But on March 8, she tested positive for COVID-19.
She was admitted to the hospital on March 10 and died from COVID-19 three days later.
“The patient may have been exposed to an individual she may have encountered and then she might be incubating or having asymptomatic symptoms at the time she was vaccinated,” Lobo said.
People who have contracted COVID-19 are advised to wait for two to three months before receiving vaccines because they develop antibodies.
Ho said the country will not do COVID-19 testing prior to vaccination.
Protection
Lobo, as well as Food and Drug Administration Director General Eric Domingo, urged people to continue practicing health protocols even after getting inoculated.
“We always remind people that after you are vaccinated, it’s not like magic that you will no longer have COVID-19. It takes time. You have to give your body time to develop immunity and resistance against the COVID-19 virus after a vaccine is injected into your body,” Domingo said.
“Do not let your guard down,” Lobo said.
The Philippines has so far reported over 635,000 COVID-19 cases, including 12,866 deaths
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