0.22% of PH population fully vaccinated

Two months since the start of the Philippines’ COVID-19 vaccination program, around 1.42 percent of the country’s estimated 110 million population have received at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 0.22 percent have been fully vaccinated.

As of April 27, both the Department of Health (DOH) and the National Task Force Against COVID-19 reported that 1,809,801 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered nationwide.

Among the eligible population from 18 years old and above, who make up an estimated 70 million, the percentage of those who have received at least one dose is 2.21 percent while those with two doses is 0.35 percent.

The figures were computed by the Inquirer using the number of first and second doses administered and the Philippine Statistics Authority’s population projections for 2021.

In Metro Manila, which accounts for about 44 percent of the country’s total COVID-19 cases, 4.37 percent of the total population have received at least one shot.

Currently, the jabs being administered in 3,415 sites across the country are either that of the CoronaVac vaccine, manufactured by Chinese biopharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech, or the AstraZeneca vaccine of the British-Swedish company of the same name.

Registration for free vaccination can be done at the local government level.

Suspected adverse reactions

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it had received and evaluated 28,822 cases of adverse reactions to the CoronaVac and AstraZeneca vaccines from March 1 to April 25.

During that period covering a span of almost two months, more than 1.5 million eligible individuals were given either of the two vaccines under the government’s vaccination program.

Of those cases, 28,388 were deemed “nonserious” and 434 were “serious.”

Adverse reactions considered to be serious include hospitalization, disability or incapacity, life-threatening reactions such as anaphylaxis (hypersensitivity to a foreign agent), birth defects and death.

The FDA said there may be multiple adverse reactions in a single case.

There were 193 cases of serious reactions and 9,502 cases of nonserious reactions to CoronaVac, while 241 cases of serious reactions and 18,886 nonserious reactions were reported among those who received the AstraZeneca vaccine.

The most common reported adverse reactions to both vaccines are pain, chills and discomfort, data from the FDA showed.

The FDA received reports of 45 fatal cases mostly among people with multiple comorbidities.

However, the agency said there were no reports of deaths directly associated with the use of either of the two vaccines.

Of the reported deaths, 24 were assessed by an independent committee of the FDA as “coincidental events”—that is, their demise was unrelated to their vaccination—and three were deemed “indeterminate,” or not precisely determined.

Other cases are still under investigation, the FDA said. —Ana Roa and Kathleen de Villa, Inquirer Research