DOH: Not all adverse events following jabs are caused by vaccines

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) stressed on Tuesday that not all adverse events following immunization (AEFI) are caused by COVID-19 vaccines, as it reported around 30 “serious” AEFI cases per one million administered vaccine doses.

In a Palace press briefing, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire emphasized that serious AEFI cases are “very rare.”

“Nais bigyang diin ng Kagawaran na ang serious AEFI ay very rare o napakadalang mangyari. Nasa 30 out of one million doses na naiturok ang bilang ng mga kaso ng serious AEFIs sa ating bansa na naitala,” she said.

(The Department would like to emphasize that serious AEFI cases are very rare. There are around 30 serious AEFI cases per one million doses administered in the country.)

Data presented by Vergeire showed that as of February 19, it has received a total of 89,278 AEFI reports out of 133 million COVID-19 vaccine doses administered. Of this number, 85,237 are non-serious while 4,041 are serious cases.

According to DOH, serious AEFI is those that result in death, hospitalization, prolonged existing hospitalization, significant disability or incapacity, congenital anomalies, or birth defects.

“These can be severe, critical, or life-threatening; require intervention to prevent any of the above-mentioned outcomes; or classified as a medically important event or reaction,” the DOH said.

Meanwhile, non-serious AEFIs are those that normally occur after vaccination and can be treated at home and disappear after a few days. These may be a pain in the injection site, fatigue, chills, fever, or headache.

However, Vergeire explained that not all AEFIs are caused by vaccines. She said that authorities conduct a causality assessment to gather evidence on whether the vaccines caused the reported AEFIs.

“Ang AEFI ay anumang pangyayari matapos ang pagbabakuna. Ang AEFI ay mga sintomas o resulta ng laboratory test o sakit na maaaring mangyari o maramdaman matapos ang pagbabakuna,” she said.

(AEFI is anything that happens after vaccination. It can be a symptom or result of a laboratory test or any illness that may be experienced following vaccination.)

“Gayunpaman, nais linawin ng DOH na hindi sa lahat ng pagkakataon ay AEFI ang maaaring nararanasan ng isang indibidwal matapos mabakunahan. Maaaring ang mga nararanasan na AEFI ay hindi dahil sa bakuna. Kagaya halimbawa kung nakaranas ng pagsusuka ang isang indibidwal matapos siyang mabakunahan ngunit pagkatapos naman ay napatunayan na ito pala ay food poisoning,” she added.

(Nevertheless, the DOH would like to clarify that not all the time, what is being felt by an individual after vaccination is an AEFI. The AEFI being experienced may not be because of the vaccine. For example, if an individual has experienced vomiting after vaccination but it was later proven that it was because of food poisoning.)

“Maaaring matukoy na AEFI ang nausea ngunit ito ay hindi dahil sa bakuna. Bagama’t matutukoy na hindi karaniwang pangyayari, kung sakali na ang isang indibidwal ay mamatay pagkatapos mabakunahan sa kadahilanang ito ay maaaring nabangga ng sasakyan habang tumatawid, maituturing pa rin po itong AEFI ngunit hindi ito dahil sa bakuna,” Vergeire also said.

(Nausea may be considered AEFI but it was not caused by the vaccine. It is not a common scenario, but if an individual dies because he was hit by a car after vaccination, it can still be considered AEFI but it was not because of the vaccine.)

Of the serious AEFI cases, 1,611 have resulted in deaths. However, Vergeire reiterated that it does not necessarily mean that these were caused by vaccines, citing the need for causality assessment and noting that even “freak accidents” following vaccination are counted as AEFI.

She stressed that the benefits far outweigh the risks of vaccination. For instance, an average of 15,200 patients have died per one million cases based on cumulative case fatality rate.

“Kung ito naman ay ikukumpara sa mga assessment ng ating eksperto sa mga AEFI deaths, nasa tatlong deaths lamang kada 100 million doses ng bakuna ang may sapat na ebidensya upang masabi na ang bakuna ay sanhi ng pagkakamatay ng mga indibidwal na ito,” said the health official.

(If this will be compared to the assessment of experts on AEFI deaths, only three deaths per 100 million doses of vaccines have sufficient evidence to say that the vaccines caused the deaths of these individuals.)

“Makikita natin na napakalaki ng pagkakaiba ng mga rates na ito at patunay sa napakalaking benepisyo na nakukuha natin sa bakuna from prevention of having severe disease or in this case becoming a fatality due to COVID-19,” she added.

(We can see that the difference of these rates is proof of the huge benefit we can get from vaccines in preventing severe disease and becoming a fatality due to COVID-19.)

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