The World Health Organization (WHO) has reminded the public to avoid choosing several COVID-19 brands over other products, saying that all approved vaccines are safe and effective.
Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe, WHO country representative, said they support the move of the government to not publicly announce vaccine brands if this will help manage in preventing superspreader events.
“WHO has been very clear that these vaccines are largely used to prevent severe disease and deaths and we know that all of the vaccines are doing that effectively,” he said in a Palace briefing on May 24.
“We are not advocating for preference as one or the other brands, it’s about what can be provided to countries based on the ground or conditions because some of these vaccines have very complicated storage requirements and shelf life,” he added.
During the same briefing, infectious disease specialist Dr. Edsel Salvana, said all vaccines with emergency use authorization (EUA) in the country are “very effective against severe disease,” which he described as “the most important outcome.”
“The best vaccine that you can get is really the one that is there already. Dahil of course, if you wait for your preferred brand, baka hindi na maghintay ang virus bago ka ma-infect and if you get infected you can die,” he said.
The government recently decided to ban vaccine brand public announcements to prevent the crowding of vaccination sites due to the public’s preference on select Western brands.
The Department of Health (DOH) has already clarified that recipients will still be informed of the vaccine that will be used on them during the counseling process.
“In terms of iyong consent, as long as alam naman ng tao kung ano iyong ituturok sa kaniya before iturok sa kaniya, I think that’s enough,” Salvana said.
“Very important talaga that we avoid crowding during the vaccination process and sundin po natin iyong mga pre-registration na patakaran. And iyon nga po, safe and effective naman po lahat ng bakuna and we urge everyone to get whatever vaccine is there because they all work,” he reiterated.
Among the common side effects of vaccines are fatigue, headache, pain in the injection site, fever, and chills, which should go away in less than a week. Severe side effects are also not common.
In terms of thrombosis or blood clotting for Janssen vaccine, the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said this is a very rare incident occurring “at a rate of about 7 per 1 million vaccinated women between 18 and 49 years old.”
Blood clotting following AstraZeneca vaccination is also more rare in Asian population, according to pediatric infectious disease expert Anna Ong-Lim.
Abeyasinghe said the preference of certain brands over the other should not be interpreted as vaccine hesitancy. He added that the current issue is the inability of supply to meet the demand.
Meanwhile, he said two million doses each of AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech will be delivered in the country in June.
Malacaῆang said this will support the country’s vaccination rollout which has already reached over four million administered doses as of May 23. This number brings the country to the second spot in ASEAN, 13th in Asia, and 37th out of 196 countries.
Abeyasinghe said the performance of the Philippines in terms of vaccination “has been very creditable and commendable.” He, however, urged authorities to follow the prioritization list in the vaccination program. – Report from Mela Lesmoras/AG-rir
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